The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on…
May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable…
May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable…
May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS…
May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually…
Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for…
The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in…
The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on…
May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose…
May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication…
May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect…
May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection…
May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point…
May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this…
May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment…
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Oriental Hotels Limited (OHL) experienced the highest gain of 8.46%, while Kumari Sabal Yojana (KSY) suffered the most significant loss at 8.48%.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Life Insurance, Manufacturing and Processing, and Microfinance closed positively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hotels and Tourism Index saw the most significant gain at 6.96%, while Microfinance Index faced the highest loss at 0.90%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20655', 'image' => '20240509032416_collage (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 15:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mother’s Day Celebration at Holiday Inn Express with Culinary Experience', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the restaurant said that the guests were treated to an extraordinary culinary experience at the rooftop restaurant set against the breathtaking backdrop of the city skyline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">According to the statement, guests during the event immersed themselves in the art of sushi making under the expert guidance of Chef Krishna. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">“Participants were delighted to craft their own sushi rolls, infusing each bite with creativity and passion,” reads the statement, adding, “The interactive session not only offered a hands-on experience but also fostered a sense of joy as families and friends came together to celebrate the special bond of motherhood.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">The restaurant further stated that the guests were also delighted with an “indulgent Asian hi-tea, featuring a delectable array of traditional and contemporary Asian delicacies”.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20654', 'image' => '20240509012444_blank eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 13:24:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Coca-Cola Organises Third Edition of Youth Dialogue to Explore Solutions for Sustainable Future', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.'', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.' </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Issuing a press statement recently, Cola-Cola said that the event organized in partnership with Glocal Pvt Ltd, centered on innovative strategies for a greener planet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The soft drink company added that the dialogue featured speakers like Miss Nepal Earth 2022 Sareesha Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, discussions led by industry experts Ike Hang, Manu Karki, and Rubina Karki highlighted the critical role of youth in driving sustainability efforts, emphasizing collaborative solutions and actionable steps for a brighter, eco-conscious future. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20653', 'image' => '20240509020422_Coke_Collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 14:03:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Launches Public Investment Management Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Entitled the Public Investment Management Action Plan (2081/82-2085/86), the initiative is aimed at optimizing project expenditure across government, public corporations, and public-private partnerships.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The action plan was endorsed by the NPC's meeting on April 23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Information officer at NPC, Dr Divakar Luintel, informed RSS that the action plan was brought after realizing the need of a long-term strategy to invigorate development projects, stimulate capital investment, and ensure the efficiency of public funds.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Amidst the backdrop of significant underutilization of budget allocations for infrastructure development across all tiers of government, the action plan is poised to address persistent challenges within the sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prolonged project delays contribute to escalating costs and strain state finances, adversely impacting both the fiscal outlook and public perception.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To address these issues, the action plan delineates seven key objectives. These include the establishment of a centralized, transparent monitoring system to oversee capital project portfolios, alongside phased reforms to the national project bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, enhancements to the electronic public procurement system are slated to enhance transparency and efficiency in procurement processes. A directive for regular maintenance of public structures and infrastructure is also on the agenda.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Crucially, the plan aims to eliminate duplication in development projects, underscoring the absence of integrated data and expenditure details across all tiers of government.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response to criticism surrounding the government's project selection and budget allocation processes, the action plan emphasizes rigorous project preparation to ensure fiscal viability, with non-feasible projects being discontinued.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20652', 'image' => '20240509114807_20230412031757_1681277786.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Phase Out Postal Service Gradually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had abolished the Central Philatelic and Postal Stamps Management Office and scrapped 1,636 posts in early February and has now decided to withdraw additional postal services as per the announcement made in the budget of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, informed lawmakers during a meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee under the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the additional postal services will be gradually phased out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The quota in such services will be scrapped with the retirements of employees, the state-owned RSS quoted Minister Sharma as saying. According to RSS, Minister Sharma told the lawmakers that this policy was pursued following a meeting with various trade unions of the postal service as well as the Finance Ministry and the prime minister. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised regulations (fifth amendment-2080 BS) regarding the additional postal services, employees will have to go for a compulsory retirement with the completion of 58 years of age. The positions that are already lying vacant shall be automatically removed with the commencement of the rules, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The minister said that the relevancy of postal services has been almost over with the development of a paperless era. The postal service is in use just for the exchange of official documents. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20651', 'image' => '20240509112700_20220427100836_postal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:26:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Former Minister Khatiwada Bats for Second-tier Regulation of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 9: Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking on the second day of the national seminar of the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) organized by the National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Limited (NEFSCUN) on Wednesday, Dr Khatiwada said Nepal was at immediate need for second-tier regulation and supervision of the cooperative sector in the wake of emerging problems surrounding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Khatiwada highlighted the growing challenges facing the cooperative sector and stressed the need for proactive measures to address them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Khatiwada warned that failing to tackle these issues internally could lead to external intervention, emphasizing the importance of both accountability and autonomy within cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Additionally, Erik O' Hern, International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel for World Council of Credit Unions, emphasized the importance of strong account supervision for the sustainability of cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">She also stressed the significance of a capable workforce within the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) and highlighted the committee's role in providing guidance and ensuring adherence to rules and regulations.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Hern suggested that ASC should have a stronger role than the Board of Directors and presented international practices on cooperative supervision and regulation during the seminar. (RSS) </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20650', 'image' => '20240509083653_collage (76).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 08:35:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'South Korea to Scale up Assistance to Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 8: The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RoK's ambassador to Nepal, Park Tae-Young, shared information about this with the media during an interaction held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and RoK (South Korea). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the ambassador said South Korea's assistance to Nepal's various sectors will be increased in the days to come. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea's support to Nepal mainly features in health, education, agriculture, and good governance sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ambassador said that Korea's support to Nepal is a model one and over 100,000 Nepali have benefited from employment in South Korea since the Employment Permit System (EPS) agreement between the two countries in 2007. At present 43,963 Nepali citizens are employed in multiple sectors in South Korea under the EPS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ambassador said South Korea faces a low birth rate and labor is its demand. The process of hiring workers from Nepal will be intensified in the days to come. Nepali workers are presently engaged in Korea's production, agricultural, and in shipbuilding industry. It plans to hire Nepali workers for the wildlife and forest sectors in the upcoming year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea hires 100,000 workers annually from 16 countries and among them, Nepal is in the topmost position. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Korea International Cooperation Agency( KoICA) Nepal chief Mohan Kong said Nepal receives support from Korea in education, health, agriculture, good governance, and entrepreneurship sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Its assistance aims to achieve poverty alleviation and good governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal and the RoK had established diplomatic relations on May 15, 1974. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20649', 'image' => '20240508071145_20230829111127_Flag-Pins-Nepal-South-Korea_600x600 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 19:10:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 0.21 Points to Close at 1960.60', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During today’s trading session, 305 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 41,137 transactions. A total of 5,874,967 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.54 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">First Microfinance Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(FMDBL) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 10 crores. Similarly, Infinity Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(ILBS) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 1407 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kumari Sabal Yojana(KSY) incurred the maximum loss at 10%, closing at 8.73 per share. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Finance Index, Hydropower Index, Microfinance Index and Trading Index closed in the negative territory. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Index gained the highest 3.11%, while Manufacturing and Processing saw maximum loss of 1.09%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20648', 'image' => '20240508032702_collage (75).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 15:24:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Project Achieves Breakthrough of Tunnel', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the 'breakthrough' ceremony at Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi rural municipality-7 on Wednesday. The Automatic Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi river on Tuesday after PM Dahal pressed the TBM switch. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 metres and it is 13.3 kilometres long. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months since the start of digging of the tunnel. According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 metres on a single day. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the works related to digging the tunnel were disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel. The goal is to complete the project by October 2027.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this project, the Sunkoshi River flowing through the border of Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts in Kandhungi will be diverted to Marin Khola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">About 67 cusecs of water from Sunkoshi will be pumped into the Marin River at Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli through a tunnel. The water will be used to irrigate about 122,000 hectares of land in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara. Likewise, the project will also generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel construction of the project was done by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company Limited (COVEC). According to the contractors, the construction of the dam and powerhouse will be completed within the stipulated time even if there is some delay. A joint venture of Indian company Patel Engineering and Nepal's Raman Group has been entrusted with the construction of the dam.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After the completion of the project, irrigation facilities will be available throughout the year in the five districts of Mid-Terai, which are considered as the major grain producing areas. It will bring a qualitative change in food production.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20647', 'image' => '20240508023616_20240331100557_smdmp-home-welcome - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:35:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Telecom Pays Rs 20 Billion for License Renewal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services. According to Nepal Telecom’s spokesperson Hari Prasad Dhakal, the NT’s board of directors decided last week to pay the license renewal fee for the last five years.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Telecom, the payment was delayed because the government had not decided whether to pay the renewal fee in installments or else.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom informed that it paid the second renewal fee of the last five years on the fifteenth year based on the fee it paid as the first renewal fee for the first ten years of operation.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom's mobile service license is expiring on May 10.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The state-owned telecom company will have to pay an additional Rs 20 billion for 5 years after May 10. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom says that the fees to be paid for the next five years and the license renewal fee will be decided by the government.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom, a state-owned telecommunication service provider, has established itself as a profitable government institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20646', 'image' => '20240508021801_20210712025647_20200721022343_1595282477.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:17:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 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"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', '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' => '20928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Closes at 1966.23 With Gains of 5.63 Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on Thursday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">May 9: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Throughout today’s trading session, 313 scrips were traded in the NEPS in 49,332 transactions, totaling 7,058,399 shares and a turnover of Rs 3.12 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Nepal Finance Limited (NFS) led in transaction volume with Rs 16 crores. Oriental Hotels Limited (OHL) experienced the highest gain of 8.46%, while Kumari Sabal Yojana (KSY) suffered the most significant loss at 8.48%.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Life Insurance, Manufacturing and Processing, and Microfinance closed positively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hotels and Tourism Index saw the most significant gain at 6.96%, while Microfinance Index faced the highest loss at 0.90%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20655', 'image' => '20240509032416_collage (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 15:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mother’s Day Celebration at Holiday Inn Express with Culinary Experience', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the restaurant said that the guests were treated to an extraordinary culinary experience at the rooftop restaurant set against the breathtaking backdrop of the city skyline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">According to the statement, guests during the event immersed themselves in the art of sushi making under the expert guidance of Chef Krishna. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">“Participants were delighted to craft their own sushi rolls, infusing each bite with creativity and passion,” reads the statement, adding, “The interactive session not only offered a hands-on experience but also fostered a sense of joy as families and friends came together to celebrate the special bond of motherhood.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">The restaurant further stated that the guests were also delighted with an “indulgent Asian hi-tea, featuring a delectable array of traditional and contemporary Asian delicacies”.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20654', 'image' => '20240509012444_blank eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 13:24:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Coca-Cola Organises Third Edition of Youth Dialogue to Explore Solutions for Sustainable Future', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.'', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.' </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Issuing a press statement recently, Cola-Cola said that the event organized in partnership with Glocal Pvt Ltd, centered on innovative strategies for a greener planet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The soft drink company added that the dialogue featured speakers like Miss Nepal Earth 2022 Sareesha Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, discussions led by industry experts Ike Hang, Manu Karki, and Rubina Karki highlighted the critical role of youth in driving sustainability efforts, emphasizing collaborative solutions and actionable steps for a brighter, eco-conscious future. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20653', 'image' => '20240509020422_Coke_Collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 14:03:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Launches Public Investment Management Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Entitled the Public Investment Management Action Plan (2081/82-2085/86), the initiative is aimed at optimizing project expenditure across government, public corporations, and public-private partnerships.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The action plan was endorsed by the NPC's meeting on April 23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Information officer at NPC, Dr Divakar Luintel, informed RSS that the action plan was brought after realizing the need of a long-term strategy to invigorate development projects, stimulate capital investment, and ensure the efficiency of public funds.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Amidst the backdrop of significant underutilization of budget allocations for infrastructure development across all tiers of government, the action plan is poised to address persistent challenges within the sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prolonged project delays contribute to escalating costs and strain state finances, adversely impacting both the fiscal outlook and public perception.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To address these issues, the action plan delineates seven key objectives. These include the establishment of a centralized, transparent monitoring system to oversee capital project portfolios, alongside phased reforms to the national project bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, enhancements to the electronic public procurement system are slated to enhance transparency and efficiency in procurement processes. A directive for regular maintenance of public structures and infrastructure is also on the agenda.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Crucially, the plan aims to eliminate duplication in development projects, underscoring the absence of integrated data and expenditure details across all tiers of government.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response to criticism surrounding the government's project selection and budget allocation processes, the action plan emphasizes rigorous project preparation to ensure fiscal viability, with non-feasible projects being discontinued.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20652', 'image' => '20240509114807_20230412031757_1681277786.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Phase Out Postal Service Gradually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had abolished the Central Philatelic and Postal Stamps Management Office and scrapped 1,636 posts in early February and has now decided to withdraw additional postal services as per the announcement made in the budget of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, informed lawmakers during a meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee under the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the additional postal services will be gradually phased out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The quota in such services will be scrapped with the retirements of employees, the state-owned RSS quoted Minister Sharma as saying. According to RSS, Minister Sharma told the lawmakers that this policy was pursued following a meeting with various trade unions of the postal service as well as the Finance Ministry and the prime minister. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised regulations (fifth amendment-2080 BS) regarding the additional postal services, employees will have to go for a compulsory retirement with the completion of 58 years of age. The positions that are already lying vacant shall be automatically removed with the commencement of the rules, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The minister said that the relevancy of postal services has been almost over with the development of a paperless era. The postal service is in use just for the exchange of official documents. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20651', 'image' => '20240509112700_20220427100836_postal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:26:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Former Minister Khatiwada Bats for Second-tier Regulation of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 9: Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking on the second day of the national seminar of the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) organized by the National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Limited (NEFSCUN) on Wednesday, Dr Khatiwada said Nepal was at immediate need for second-tier regulation and supervision of the cooperative sector in the wake of emerging problems surrounding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Khatiwada highlighted the growing challenges facing the cooperative sector and stressed the need for proactive measures to address them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Khatiwada warned that failing to tackle these issues internally could lead to external intervention, emphasizing the importance of both accountability and autonomy within cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Additionally, Erik O' Hern, International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel for World Council of Credit Unions, emphasized the importance of strong account supervision for the sustainability of cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">She also stressed the significance of a capable workforce within the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) and highlighted the committee's role in providing guidance and ensuring adherence to rules and regulations.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Hern suggested that ASC should have a stronger role than the Board of Directors and presented international practices on cooperative supervision and regulation during the seminar. (RSS) </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20650', 'image' => '20240509083653_collage (76).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 08:35:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'South Korea to Scale up Assistance to Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 8: The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RoK's ambassador to Nepal, Park Tae-Young, shared information about this with the media during an interaction held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and RoK (South Korea). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the ambassador said South Korea's assistance to Nepal's various sectors will be increased in the days to come. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea's support to Nepal mainly features in health, education, agriculture, and good governance sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ambassador said that Korea's support to Nepal is a model one and over 100,000 Nepali have benefited from employment in South Korea since the Employment Permit System (EPS) agreement between the two countries in 2007. At present 43,963 Nepali citizens are employed in multiple sectors in South Korea under the EPS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ambassador said South Korea faces a low birth rate and labor is its demand. The process of hiring workers from Nepal will be intensified in the days to come. Nepali workers are presently engaged in Korea's production, agricultural, and in shipbuilding industry. It plans to hire Nepali workers for the wildlife and forest sectors in the upcoming year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea hires 100,000 workers annually from 16 countries and among them, Nepal is in the topmost position. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Korea International Cooperation Agency( KoICA) Nepal chief Mohan Kong said Nepal receives support from Korea in education, health, agriculture, good governance, and entrepreneurship sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Its assistance aims to achieve poverty alleviation and good governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal and the RoK had established diplomatic relations on May 15, 1974. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20649', 'image' => '20240508071145_20230829111127_Flag-Pins-Nepal-South-Korea_600x600 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 19:10:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 0.21 Points to Close at 1960.60', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During today’s trading session, 305 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 41,137 transactions. A total of 5,874,967 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.54 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">First Microfinance Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(FMDBL) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 10 crores. Similarly, Infinity Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(ILBS) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 1407 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kumari Sabal Yojana(KSY) incurred the maximum loss at 10%, closing at 8.73 per share. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Finance Index, Hydropower Index, Microfinance Index and Trading Index closed in the negative territory. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Index gained the highest 3.11%, while Manufacturing and Processing saw maximum loss of 1.09%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20648', 'image' => '20240508032702_collage (75).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 15:24:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Project Achieves Breakthrough of Tunnel', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the 'breakthrough' ceremony at Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi rural municipality-7 on Wednesday. The Automatic Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi river on Tuesday after PM Dahal pressed the TBM switch. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 metres and it is 13.3 kilometres long. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months since the start of digging of the tunnel. According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 metres on a single day. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the works related to digging the tunnel were disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel. The goal is to complete the project by October 2027.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this project, the Sunkoshi River flowing through the border of Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts in Kandhungi will be diverted to Marin Khola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">About 67 cusecs of water from Sunkoshi will be pumped into the Marin River at Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli through a tunnel. The water will be used to irrigate about 122,000 hectares of land in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara. Likewise, the project will also generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel construction of the project was done by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company Limited (COVEC). According to the contractors, the construction of the dam and powerhouse will be completed within the stipulated time even if there is some delay. A joint venture of Indian company Patel Engineering and Nepal's Raman Group has been entrusted with the construction of the dam.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After the completion of the project, irrigation facilities will be available throughout the year in the five districts of Mid-Terai, which are considered as the major grain producing areas. It will bring a qualitative change in food production.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20647', 'image' => '20240508023616_20240331100557_smdmp-home-welcome - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:35:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Telecom Pays Rs 20 Billion for License Renewal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services. According to Nepal Telecom’s spokesperson Hari Prasad Dhakal, the NT’s board of directors decided last week to pay the license renewal fee for the last five years.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Telecom, the payment was delayed because the government had not decided whether to pay the renewal fee in installments or else.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom informed that it paid the second renewal fee of the last five years on the fifteenth year based on the fee it paid as the first renewal fee for the first ten years of operation.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom's mobile service license is expiring on May 10.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The state-owned telecom company will have to pay an additional Rs 20 billion for 5 years after May 10. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom says that the fees to be paid for the next five years and the license renewal fee will be decided by the government.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom, a state-owned telecommunication service provider, has established itself as a profitable government institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20646', 'image' => '20240508021801_20210712025647_20200721022343_1595282477.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:17:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 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"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', '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' => '20928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Closes at 1966.23 With Gains of 5.63 Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on Thursday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">May 9: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) witnessed a gain of 5.63 points or 0.28%, closing at 1966.23 on the last trading day of the week on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Throughout today’s trading session, 313 scrips were traded in the NEPS in 49,332 transactions, totaling 7,058,399 shares and a turnover of Rs 3.12 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Nepal Finance Limited (NFS) led in transaction volume with Rs 16 crores. Oriental Hotels Limited (OHL) experienced the highest gain of 8.46%, while Kumari Sabal Yojana (KSY) suffered the most significant loss at 8.48%.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Life Insurance, Manufacturing and Processing, and Microfinance closed positively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hotels and Tourism Index saw the most significant gain at 6.96%, while Microfinance Index faced the highest loss at 0.90%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20655', 'image' => '20240509032416_collage (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 15:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mother’s Day Celebration at Holiday Inn Express with Culinary Experience', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the restaurant said that the guests were treated to an extraordinary culinary experience at the rooftop restaurant set against the breathtaking backdrop of the city skyline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">According to the statement, guests during the event immersed themselves in the art of sushi making under the expert guidance of Chef Krishna. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">“Participants were delighted to craft their own sushi rolls, infusing each bite with creativity and passion,” reads the statement, adding, “The interactive session not only offered a hands-on experience but also fostered a sense of joy as families and friends came together to celebrate the special bond of motherhood.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">The restaurant further stated that the guests were also delighted with an “indulgent Asian hi-tea, featuring a delectable array of traditional and contemporary Asian delicacies”.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20654', 'image' => '20240509012444_blank eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 13:24:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Coca-Cola Organises Third Edition of Youth Dialogue to Explore Solutions for Sustainable Future', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.'', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.' </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Issuing a press statement recently, Cola-Cola said that the event organized in partnership with Glocal Pvt Ltd, centered on innovative strategies for a greener planet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The soft drink company added that the dialogue featured speakers like Miss Nepal Earth 2022 Sareesha Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, discussions led by industry experts Ike Hang, Manu Karki, and Rubina Karki highlighted the critical role of youth in driving sustainability efforts, emphasizing collaborative solutions and actionable steps for a brighter, eco-conscious future. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20653', 'image' => '20240509020422_Coke_Collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 14:03:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Launches Public Investment Management Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Entitled the Public Investment Management Action Plan (2081/82-2085/86), the initiative is aimed at optimizing project expenditure across government, public corporations, and public-private partnerships.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The action plan was endorsed by the NPC's meeting on April 23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Information officer at NPC, Dr Divakar Luintel, informed RSS that the action plan was brought after realizing the need of a long-term strategy to invigorate development projects, stimulate capital investment, and ensure the efficiency of public funds.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Amidst the backdrop of significant underutilization of budget allocations for infrastructure development across all tiers of government, the action plan is poised to address persistent challenges within the sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prolonged project delays contribute to escalating costs and strain state finances, adversely impacting both the fiscal outlook and public perception.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To address these issues, the action plan delineates seven key objectives. These include the establishment of a centralized, transparent monitoring system to oversee capital project portfolios, alongside phased reforms to the national project bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, enhancements to the electronic public procurement system are slated to enhance transparency and efficiency in procurement processes. A directive for regular maintenance of public structures and infrastructure is also on the agenda.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Crucially, the plan aims to eliminate duplication in development projects, underscoring the absence of integrated data and expenditure details across all tiers of government.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response to criticism surrounding the government's project selection and budget allocation processes, the action plan emphasizes rigorous project preparation to ensure fiscal viability, with non-feasible projects being discontinued.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20652', 'image' => '20240509114807_20230412031757_1681277786.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Phase Out Postal Service Gradually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had abolished the Central Philatelic and Postal Stamps Management Office and scrapped 1,636 posts in early February and has now decided to withdraw additional postal services as per the announcement made in the budget of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, informed lawmakers during a meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee under the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the additional postal services will be gradually phased out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The quota in such services will be scrapped with the retirements of employees, the state-owned RSS quoted Minister Sharma as saying. According to RSS, Minister Sharma told the lawmakers that this policy was pursued following a meeting with various trade unions of the postal service as well as the Finance Ministry and the prime minister. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised regulations (fifth amendment-2080 BS) regarding the additional postal services, employees will have to go for a compulsory retirement with the completion of 58 years of age. The positions that are already lying vacant shall be automatically removed with the commencement of the rules, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The minister said that the relevancy of postal services has been almost over with the development of a paperless era. The postal service is in use just for the exchange of official documents. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20651', 'image' => '20240509112700_20220427100836_postal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:26:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Former Minister Khatiwada Bats for Second-tier Regulation of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 9: Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking on the second day of the national seminar of the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) organized by the National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Limited (NEFSCUN) on Wednesday, Dr Khatiwada said Nepal was at immediate need for second-tier regulation and supervision of the cooperative sector in the wake of emerging problems surrounding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Khatiwada highlighted the growing challenges facing the cooperative sector and stressed the need for proactive measures to address them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Khatiwada warned that failing to tackle these issues internally could lead to external intervention, emphasizing the importance of both accountability and autonomy within cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Additionally, Erik O' Hern, International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel for World Council of Credit Unions, emphasized the importance of strong account supervision for the sustainability of cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">She also stressed the significance of a capable workforce within the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) and highlighted the committee's role in providing guidance and ensuring adherence to rules and regulations.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Hern suggested that ASC should have a stronger role than the Board of Directors and presented international practices on cooperative supervision and regulation during the seminar. (RSS) </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20650', 'image' => '20240509083653_collage (76).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 08:35:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'South Korea to Scale up Assistance to Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 8: The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RoK's ambassador to Nepal, Park Tae-Young, shared information about this with the media during an interaction held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and RoK (South Korea). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the ambassador said South Korea's assistance to Nepal's various sectors will be increased in the days to come. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea's support to Nepal mainly features in health, education, agriculture, and good governance sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ambassador said that Korea's support to Nepal is a model one and over 100,000 Nepali have benefited from employment in South Korea since the Employment Permit System (EPS) agreement between the two countries in 2007. At present 43,963 Nepali citizens are employed in multiple sectors in South Korea under the EPS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ambassador said South Korea faces a low birth rate and labor is its demand. The process of hiring workers from Nepal will be intensified in the days to come. Nepali workers are presently engaged in Korea's production, agricultural, and in shipbuilding industry. It plans to hire Nepali workers for the wildlife and forest sectors in the upcoming year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea hires 100,000 workers annually from 16 countries and among them, Nepal is in the topmost position. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Korea International Cooperation Agency( KoICA) Nepal chief Mohan Kong said Nepal receives support from Korea in education, health, agriculture, good governance, and entrepreneurship sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Its assistance aims to achieve poverty alleviation and good governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal and the RoK had established diplomatic relations on May 15, 1974. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20649', 'image' => '20240508071145_20230829111127_Flag-Pins-Nepal-South-Korea_600x600 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 19:10:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 0.21 Points to Close at 1960.60', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During today’s trading session, 305 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 41,137 transactions. A total of 5,874,967 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.54 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">First Microfinance Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(FMDBL) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 10 crores. Similarly, Infinity Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(ILBS) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 1407 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kumari Sabal Yojana(KSY) incurred the maximum loss at 10%, closing at 8.73 per share. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Finance Index, Hydropower Index, Microfinance Index and Trading Index closed in the negative territory. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Index gained the highest 3.11%, while Manufacturing and Processing saw maximum loss of 1.09%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20648', 'image' => '20240508032702_collage (75).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 15:24:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Project Achieves Breakthrough of Tunnel', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the 'breakthrough' ceremony at Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi rural municipality-7 on Wednesday. The Automatic Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi river on Tuesday after PM Dahal pressed the TBM switch. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 metres and it is 13.3 kilometres long. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months since the start of digging of the tunnel. According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 metres on a single day. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the works related to digging the tunnel were disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel. The goal is to complete the project by October 2027.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this project, the Sunkoshi River flowing through the border of Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts in Kandhungi will be diverted to Marin Khola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">About 67 cusecs of water from Sunkoshi will be pumped into the Marin River at Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli through a tunnel. The water will be used to irrigate about 122,000 hectares of land in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara. Likewise, the project will also generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel construction of the project was done by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company Limited (COVEC). According to the contractors, the construction of the dam and powerhouse will be completed within the stipulated time even if there is some delay. A joint venture of Indian company Patel Engineering and Nepal's Raman Group has been entrusted with the construction of the dam.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After the completion of the project, irrigation facilities will be available throughout the year in the five districts of Mid-Terai, which are considered as the major grain producing areas. It will bring a qualitative change in food production.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20647', 'image' => '20240508023616_20240331100557_smdmp-home-welcome - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:35:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Telecom Pays Rs 20 Billion for License Renewal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services. According to Nepal Telecom’s spokesperson Hari Prasad Dhakal, the NT’s board of directors decided last week to pay the license renewal fee for the last five years.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Telecom, the payment was delayed because the government had not decided whether to pay the renewal fee in installments or else.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom informed that it paid the second renewal fee of the last five years on the fifteenth year based on the fee it paid as the first renewal fee for the first ten years of operation.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom's mobile service license is expiring on May 10.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The state-owned telecom company will have to pay an additional Rs 20 billion for 5 years after May 10. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom says that the fees to be paid for the next five years and the license renewal fee will be decided by the government.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom, a state-owned telecommunication service provider, has established itself as a profitable government institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20646', 'image' => '20240508021801_20210712025647_20200721022343_1595282477.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:17:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 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"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', '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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Oriental Hotels Limited (OHL) experienced the highest gain of 8.46%, while Kumari Sabal Yojana (KSY) suffered the most significant loss at 8.48%.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Life Insurance, Manufacturing and Processing, and Microfinance closed positively. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hotels and Tourism Index saw the most significant gain at 6.96%, while Microfinance Index faced the highest loss at 0.90%.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20655', 'image' => '20240509032416_collage (8).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 15:22:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mother’s Day Celebration at Holiday Inn Express with Culinary Experience', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">May 9: FuAsian, the rooftop restaurant at Naxal-based Holiday Inn Express organised the Mothers’ Day event on Wednesday in a memorable way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the restaurant said that the guests were treated to an extraordinary culinary experience at the rooftop restaurant set against the breathtaking backdrop of the city skyline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">According to the statement, guests during the event immersed themselves in the art of sushi making under the expert guidance of Chef Krishna. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">“Participants were delighted to craft their own sushi rolls, infusing each bite with creativity and passion,” reads the statement, adding, “The interactive session not only offered a hands-on experience but also fostered a sense of joy as families and friends came together to celebrate the special bond of motherhood.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Aptos,"sans-serif"">The restaurant further stated that the guests were also delighted with an “indulgent Asian hi-tea, featuring a delectable array of traditional and contemporary Asian delicacies”.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20654', 'image' => '20240509012444_blank eight by six.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 13:24:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Coca-Cola Organises Third Edition of Youth Dialogue to Explore Solutions for Sustainable Future', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.'', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 9: Coca-Cola organized the third edition of Youth Dialogue at Ace Institute of Management, New Baneshwor, bringing together 136 students to delve into the topic of ‘Exploring Solutions for a Sustainable Future.' </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Issuing a press statement recently, Cola-Cola said that the event organized in partnership with Glocal Pvt Ltd, centered on innovative strategies for a greener planet. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The soft drink company added that the dialogue featured speakers like Miss Nepal Earth 2022 Sareesha Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, discussions led by industry experts Ike Hang, Manu Karki, and Rubina Karki highlighted the critical role of youth in driving sustainability efforts, emphasizing collaborative solutions and actionable steps for a brighter, eco-conscious future. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20653', 'image' => '20240509020422_Coke_Collage.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 14:03:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20925', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NPC Launches Public Investment Management Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 9: The National Planning Commission (NPC) has unveiled a comprehensive action plan aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of government spending over the next five years, the state-owned RSS reported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Entitled the Public Investment Management Action Plan (2081/82-2085/86), the initiative is aimed at optimizing project expenditure across government, public corporations, and public-private partnerships.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The action plan was endorsed by the NPC's meeting on April 23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Information officer at NPC, Dr Divakar Luintel, informed RSS that the action plan was brought after realizing the need of a long-term strategy to invigorate development projects, stimulate capital investment, and ensure the efficiency of public funds.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Amidst the backdrop of significant underutilization of budget allocations for infrastructure development across all tiers of government, the action plan is poised to address persistent challenges within the sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prolonged project delays contribute to escalating costs and strain state finances, adversely impacting both the fiscal outlook and public perception.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">To address these issues, the action plan delineates seven key objectives. These include the establishment of a centralized, transparent monitoring system to oversee capital project portfolios, alongside phased reforms to the national project bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, enhancements to the electronic public procurement system are slated to enhance transparency and efficiency in procurement processes. A directive for regular maintenance of public structures and infrastructure is also on the agenda.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Crucially, the plan aims to eliminate duplication in development projects, underscoring the absence of integrated data and expenditure details across all tiers of government.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response to criticism surrounding the government's project selection and budget allocation processes, the action plan emphasizes rigorous project preparation to ensure fiscal viability, with non-feasible projects being discontinued.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20652', 'image' => '20240509114807_20230412031757_1681277786.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:47:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Phase Out Postal Service Gradually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: With the advancement of the digital age, the Government of Nepal has decided to phase out the postal service in the country in a gradually manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had abolished the Central Philatelic and Postal Stamps Management Office and scrapped 1,636 posts in early February and has now decided to withdraw additional postal services as per the announcement made in the budget of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, informed lawmakers during a meeting of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee under the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the additional postal services will be gradually phased out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The quota in such services will be scrapped with the retirements of employees, the state-owned RSS quoted Minister Sharma as saying. According to RSS, Minister Sharma told the lawmakers that this policy was pursued following a meeting with various trade unions of the postal service as well as the Finance Ministry and the prime minister. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the revised regulations (fifth amendment-2080 BS) regarding the additional postal services, employees will have to go for a compulsory retirement with the completion of 58 years of age. The positions that are already lying vacant shall be automatically removed with the commencement of the rules, she added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The minister said that the relevancy of postal services has been almost over with the development of a paperless era. The postal service is in use just for the exchange of official documents. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20651', 'image' => '20240509112700_20220427100836_postal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 11:26:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Former Minister Khatiwada Bats for Second-tier Regulation of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 9: Former Finance Minister Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada emphasized the urgency of implementing second-tier regulation for cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking on the second day of the national seminar of the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) organized by the National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Limited (NEFSCUN) on Wednesday, Dr Khatiwada said Nepal was at immediate need for second-tier regulation and supervision of the cooperative sector in the wake of emerging problems surrounding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Khatiwada highlighted the growing challenges facing the cooperative sector and stressed the need for proactive measures to address them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Khatiwada warned that failing to tackle these issues internally could lead to external intervention, emphasizing the importance of both accountability and autonomy within cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Additionally, Erik O' Hern, International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel for World Council of Credit Unions, emphasized the importance of strong account supervision for the sustainability of cooperatives. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">She also stressed the significance of a capable workforce within the Account Supervisory Committee (ASC) and highlighted the committee's role in providing guidance and ensuring adherence to rules and regulations.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Hern suggested that ASC should have a stronger role than the Board of Directors and presented international practices on cooperative supervision and regulation during the seminar. (RSS) </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-09', 'modified' => '2024-05-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20650', 'image' => '20240509083653_collage (76).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-09 08:35:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'South Korea to Scale up Assistance to Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 8: The Republic of Korea (RoK) has said it has pursued a policy of increasing its assistance to various sectors in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">RoK's ambassador to Nepal, Park Tae-Young, shared information about this with the media during an interaction held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and RoK (South Korea). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the ambassador said South Korea's assistance to Nepal's various sectors will be increased in the days to come. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea's support to Nepal mainly features in health, education, agriculture, and good governance sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ambassador said that Korea's support to Nepal is a model one and over 100,000 Nepali have benefited from employment in South Korea since the Employment Permit System (EPS) agreement between the two countries in 2007. At present 43,963 Nepali citizens are employed in multiple sectors in South Korea under the EPS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ambassador said South Korea faces a low birth rate and labor is its demand. The process of hiring workers from Nepal will be intensified in the days to come. Nepali workers are presently engaged in Korea's production, agricultural, and in shipbuilding industry. It plans to hire Nepali workers for the wildlife and forest sectors in the upcoming year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Korea hires 100,000 workers annually from 16 countries and among them, Nepal is in the topmost position. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Korea International Cooperation Agency( KoICA) Nepal chief Mohan Kong said Nepal receives support from Korea in education, health, agriculture, good governance, and entrepreneurship sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Its assistance aims to achieve poverty alleviation and good governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal and the RoK had established diplomatic relations on May 15, 1974. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20649', 'image' => '20240508071145_20230829111127_Flag-Pins-Nepal-South-Korea_600x600 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 19:10:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Sheds 0.21 Points to Close at 1960.60', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: The Nepal stock Exchange (NEPSE) registered a minimal loss of 0.21 points or 0.01, closing at 1960.60 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During today’s trading session, 305 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 41,137 transactions. A total of 5,874,967 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.54 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">First Microfinance Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(FMDBL) led the turnover amount with total transaction of Rs 10 crores. Similarly, Infinity Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(ILBS) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 1407 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kumari Sabal Yojana(KSY) incurred the maximum loss at 10%, closing at 8.73 per share. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In terms of sector indices, all sectors except Finance Index, Hydropower Index, Microfinance Index and Trading Index closed in the negative territory. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Index gained the highest 3.11%, while Manufacturing and Processing saw maximum loss of 1.09%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20648', 'image' => '20240508032702_collage (75).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 15:24:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Project Achieves Breakthrough of Tunnel', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the 'breakthrough' ceremony at Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi rural municipality-7 on Wednesday. The Automatic Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi river on Tuesday after PM Dahal pressed the TBM switch. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 metres and it is 13.3 kilometres long. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months since the start of digging of the tunnel. According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 metres on a single day. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the works related to digging the tunnel were disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel. The goal is to complete the project by October 2027.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under this project, the Sunkoshi River flowing through the border of Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts in Kandhungi will be diverted to Marin Khola.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">About 67 cusecs of water from Sunkoshi will be pumped into the Marin River at Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli through a tunnel. The water will be used to irrigate about 122,000 hectares of land in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara. Likewise, the project will also generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The tunnel construction of the project was done by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company Limited (COVEC). According to the contractors, the construction of the dam and powerhouse will be completed within the stipulated time even if there is some delay. A joint venture of Indian company Patel Engineering and Nepal's Raman Group has been entrusted with the construction of the dam.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After the completion of the project, irrigation facilities will be available throughout the year in the five districts of Mid-Terai, which are considered as the major grain producing areas. It will bring a qualitative change in food production.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20647', 'image' => '20240508023616_20240331100557_smdmp-home-welcome - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:35:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Telecom Pays Rs 20 Billion for License Renewal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: Nepal Telecom has paid Rs 20 billion to the government for the renewal of its license for operating telecommunication services. According to Nepal Telecom’s spokesperson Hari Prasad Dhakal, the NT’s board of directors decided last week to pay the license renewal fee for the last five years.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Telecom, the payment was delayed because the government had not decided whether to pay the renewal fee in installments or else.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom informed that it paid the second renewal fee of the last five years on the fifteenth year based on the fee it paid as the first renewal fee for the first ten years of operation.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom's mobile service license is expiring on May 10.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The state-owned telecom company will have to pay an additional Rs 20 billion for 5 years after May 10. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom says that the fees to be paid for the next five years and the license renewal fee will be decided by the government.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Nepal Telecom, a state-owned telecommunication service provider, has established itself as a profitable government institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20646', 'image' => '20240508021801_20210712025647_20200721022343_1595282477.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:17:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next 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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </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:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 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"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', '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
