KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Nepal approves 3 billion investment during lockdown
Investment worth almost Rs. 3 billion has been received from home and abroad in various industries in the past one month of the lockdown period.
Four domestic and 11 foreign industries in the country got investment worth Rs. 2.74 billion in the past one month, according to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.
The Department of Industry approved foreign direct investment worth Rs. 927 million and Rs. 1.82 billion worth of domestic investment in 11 industries.
The highest investment has been from China worth Rs. 727 million, according to the Ministry spokesperson Prakash Dahal.
The investment was made in seven different industries. Likewise, 50 million rupees each was invested from India, South Korea, the Netherlands and Malaysia.
CCMC proposes to reopen domestic flights from Jun 15
COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) has proposed the High-Level Committee to loosen the lockdown and reopen domestic flights from June 15.
The proposal prepared by CCMC and submitted to the High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 has advised reopening domestic flights carrying 40% of its capacity.
The proposal will come into effect only after the High-Level committee approves and the council of Minister ratifies it as well.
As per the proposal, the domestic flights will be allowed to operate from June 15 carrying 40% of their capacity. Once approved, the planes with the capacity of 72 seats will carry only 28 passengers at a time.
Nepal witnesses 57% int’l trade decline during lockdown
Nepal has witnessed a decline in the international trade by 57 percent during the lockdown.
The country witnessed international trade decline by 49 percent by April 12, 2020 compared to the same period last year.
Similarly, the country witnessed the trade decline by 64 percent by May 13, 2020 compared to the same period last year.
The international trade decline has been attributed to the closure of industries and factories in the country and the lack of laborers at the custom checkpoints during the lockdown.
However, statistics show the international trade has gone up since mid-May. The Nepal government has imported goods worth Rs 1 trillion between mid-March to mid-May. Last year in the same period, Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 2. 28 trillion.
Similarly, the trade export has also gone down. Nepal had exported goods worth Rs 8 billion between mid-March to mid-May while in the period last year goods worth Rs 17 billion had been exported.
(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.