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

Minister Bhattarai, Australian envoy Budd discuss operation of commercial flights

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai and Australian Ambassador to Nepal Peter Budd held a conversation on Monday.

During a meeting at the Singha Durbar-based ministry, Minister Bhattarai requested the Ambassador for commercial air operations between the two countries.

Minister Bhattarai and Ambassador Budd also exchanged views on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to stem its spread.

Minister Bhattarai appreciated the assistance rendered for the repatriation of Nepalis living in Australia and thanked the Ambassador.

Expressing his commitment to take initiative with his country’s government for commercial flights, Ambassador Budd praised the Government of Nepal’s support for the repatriation of Australian citizens.

NRB starts issuing new 50-rupee note

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is issuing a new 50-rupee note from Monday. According to an official at NRB, the note has an image of Mt Everest on the left and rhododendron on the right with the signature of then Governor Dr Chiranjibi Nepal.

Similarly, in the middle of the note lies the image of a snow leopard while the others including size, shape of the note including the symbol number are the same as that of the previous note, according to the Central Bank.

Imports thru Rasuwagadhi checkpoint resume

The import of goods through the Rasuwagadhi checkpoint, an international trade gateway to China, has started from Monday.

Despite the earlier agreement to open the checkpoint, the Chinese side started loading the goods from Thursday.

As per the agreements, the Chinese side has brought the materials to Miteri Bridge, Chief Customs Officer at Rasuwagadhi Customs Office Punya Bikram Khadka said.

He added that four Chinese containers laden with goods have arrived at Rasuwagadhi this morning after completing the inspection processes.

Eight vehicles from Nepal have reached the checkpoint to collect the goods. The goods of one Chinese vehicle are loaded into two vehicles from Nepal.

Farmers elated as Sikta water reaches paddy fields

Local farmers have been elated with the Rapti River water channelizing to their paddy fields through the Banke-based under-construction national pride Sikta Project.

The paddy fields of farmers have been irrigated when the project keeping into consideration the paddy plantation season opened the western main canal and eastern canal. Man Bahadur Magar, a local farmer of Duduwa rural municipality-5, Kamdi, said this year the farmers got a chance to have paddy planted on time with the canal water reaching out to the fields.

“We usually had to rely on rainfall during the paddy plantation season. The Sikta water availability has made it easier for farmers for plantation”.

Duduwa-5 ward chair Parshuram Budhathoki informed that the farmers of Kamdi village have started earning money from vegetable farming with the opportunity of irrigation facility.

Indian orchardists fully relying on Nepali workers

Orchardists based in Shimla of Himachal Province of India are worried due to shortage of laborers as many Nepalis who work in orchards could not reach Shimla on time due to lockdown.

Citing the crisis of Nepali workers, Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday asked the Himachal Pradesh government to take concrete steps to bring Nepalis labor on time for the apple season by discussing it with the Center.

CPI (M) leader Sanjay Chauhan said orchardists are worried due to shortage of labor. “If labor is not arranged on time then it will become difficult for orchardists to take their produce to fruit markets thereby causing huge losses,” he said.

He said,” Most apple orchards are away from roads therefore labor has to carry apple boxes on their backs. Labor is also required to load and unload apple boxes from the vehicle. Due to Covid-19 and other issues with Nepal, labor have not been able to come to the state this year.

(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.