KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Advertisers seek clarity from the central bank on social media adverts
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a circular last week stating any payment made outside the banking channels for social media advertisements is considered illegal. In a written circular on Friday, the NRB directed them to track all such foreign exchange payments through the local banking channels.
Advertisers have now wanted a meeting with officials of the central bank for a greater explanation on the matter. One significant advertiser that will be affected by the new rules is the Nepal Tourism Board, which has been engaged in widespread digital marketing for the promotion of VNY 2020.
However, according to the officials, the board has had to depend on informal payments for digital advertisements. The advertising agencies are increasingly putting advertisements on social platforms to promote their client’s products and services.
Website developers also have to make payment for purchasing space on the web and many of them are involved in enhancing the social media presence.
Remittance still ‘wasted’ in unproductive sector
A large chunk of the remittance coming to Nepal is found to be spent on the loan payment. A remittance inflow report made public by Nepal Rastra Bank made the revelation that the largest chunk of the remittance is spent on paying back the loan taken while going abroad.
The report based on NRB’s survey in 320 households of 16 districts shows that hardly 28% of the remittance goes in saving when 25.3% goes in loan payment, and 23.9% goes in food and clothes.
According to the survey carried out in FY2014/15, around 9.7% of the remittance is spent in health and education, 3.5 in the family functions and rituals like weddings and bratabandha and 3% is spent on the purchase of the domestic property.
Unfortunately, only 1.1% of remittance is spent on the production sector. Earlier, the livelihood survey conducted on 2010/11 had shown that 78.9% of it was used in domestic consumption, 7.1% in loan payment, 3.5% in education and 4.5% in the purchase of domestic purchase. The survey showed that 0.6% of the remittance was saved then.
NTA scraps license of CG Communications
Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has scrapped the license of CG Communications owned by Chaudhary Group. NTA annulled the license citing that the company failed to renew the license timely. The company was awarded the license to operate telecommunication services in seven districts on March 3, 2010.
Nepali rail to come into operation from Feb 3rd week
The Department of Railways has said that Kurtha-Janakpur-Jayanagar rail will come into operation from the third week of February. The rail procurement is at the final phase and the railway service will come into operation soon, said Balaram Mishra, Director General of the Department.
Mishra had visited India from December 15 to 20 last year to bring rail procured by Nepal from India under the government to government agreement. According to Mishra, the total price is around Rs 8.5 million excluding vat. Nepal will rope in 26 experts from India. Besides, the government has approved the vacancies of 200 staffers as the agreement, said Mishra.
A Railway Bill 2019 has already been tabled in the parliament.
Import of Chinese apples through Rasuwagadhi border point down
The decline in the import of Chinese apples has been linked to the opening of the Tatopani border point which was closed off after the earthquake in 2015.
The Tatopani border point resumed operation after four years in 2019. According to information from Rasuwa Customs Office, apples worth Rs 900 million were imported in the first six months of the current fiscal year – FY2019/20.
The customs office collected Rs 80 million in revenue from the import of Chinese apples. The collected amount is 1.21% of the total revenue of the Rasuwa Customs Office. In the first six months of the current fiscal year 2019/20, the customs office has gained revenue worth Rs 7.33 billion.
The import of Chinese apples is high during Mother’s day, Dashain, Tihar, and Chhath festivals. 50 million kilograms of Chinese apples were imported in the fiscal year 2018/2019.
Shree Airlines starting Pokhara flights from Friday
Shree Airlines is initiating scheduled flights to Pokhara from Friday. The private carrier has announced opening fares of Rs 2,000 on the Kathmandu-Pokhara sector and Rs 2,600 on Pokhara-Kathmandu.
Shree Airlines operated a test flight to Pokhara on January 20. The airline uses 80-seater Dash 8 Q400 aircraft in the Kathmandu-Pokhara sector. Shree Airlines started operating scheduled flights to Janakpur from Janakpur 15.
It has a fixed fare for the Janakpur sector at Rs 2,000 per person. With the operation of Shree Airlines’ flight to Pokhara, passengers will now have a wide range of options to choose from. It is planning to launch a flight to Simara in the near future.
Olangchungola checkpoint shut over coronavirus
The operation of the Taplejung-based Olangchungola border checkpoint has been shut for a definite time at the request of the local administration of China.
Ward chairperson of Faktanglung rural municipality-7, Olangchungola, Chheten Sherpa informed that the Reu administration of Tibet, China on January 30 had requested to forbid people’s movement to the zone for some days.
He also shared that the Chinese administration urged the Nepali side to ban mobility in the zone immediately following the return of the Chinese workers’ team which was working in road construction in Nepal.
(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal, Akash Shrestha, Nitish Lal Shrestha, Diana Zulkifli)
Nepal Economic Digest is a daily morning email digest, basically relatable summations of the most important business news, happenings from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries. The Institute for Strategic and Socio-Economic Research (ISSR), Nepal’s independent think tank, and Khabarhub — Nepal popular news portal — have joined hands to disseminate news from Nepal in the form of Economic Digest.
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