KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.

Govt allocates Rs 3.42 bln to fight Coronavirus pandemic

The government has allocated Rs 3.42 billion to fight Coronavirus pandemic since the novel virus started taking toll on Nepal.

Speaking at the Parliament’s Finance Committee meeting, Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada said Rs 2.34 billion has been allocated for the Ministry of Defense and Rs 1.8 billion for the Ministry of Health and Population to respond to the novel virus.

Similarly, Rs 500 million has been deposited in the Coronavirus Prevention Fund set up by the government, added Finance Minister Khatiwada.

Big hotels announce closure for six months

Big hotels have announced closure for the next six months starting April 13. A meeting of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) decided to shut down star hotels effective from April 13 to October 16.

The meeting chaired by Shreejana Rana, President of HAN, made a decision that employees will get 12.5 percent of their basic salary for six months and those who do not accept it will be relieved of their duties and responsibilities.

All the hotels will start the process of laying off staffers since the time they do not accept 12.5 percent salary in line with the Section 145 of Nepal Labor Act 2017, according to the decision.

Slow delivery leading to stockpile of cargo in Birgunj dry port

The Container Corporation (CONCOR)-run dry port at Birgunj in Nepal has built a stockpile of 4,000 boxes despite having a storage capacity of 1,500 containers of 20 ft each as importers in Nepal are barely taking deliveries.

As the Birgunj container depot ran out of capacity, Kolkata and Vizag together developed a stockpile of nearly 6,000 boxes, which will take over 60 railway rakes to be cleared.

The dry port is the delivery point of third-country imports in Nepal though the Kolkata and Vizag ports.

Govt bringing additional kits for COVID-19 test

The government has started bringing additional medical supplies required for novel coronavirus tests.

These kits have been brought from Germany through the Nepali Army.

According to the Joint spokesman at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari, the materials necessary for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits are being brought after running out of these kits that were brought before.

The Ministry had brought 70 thousand RDT kits before this by calling for bids. It does not have these kits in stock at present as it has sent these to all the States and local levels.

Govt to deploy army at development projects, police along Nepal-India border

The government has given the responsibility of security of infrastructure, development projects and prisons to Nepali Army.

A meeting of the security bodies held at the Ministry of Home Affairs decided to mobilize Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force to the borders to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The decision to this decision was made considering the spread of coronavirus in the country.

(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal and Nitish Lal Shrestha)

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.