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

Citizens Investment Trust to provide pension service to public

The Citizen Investment Trust has introduced a ‘Citizen Pension Scheme’ to provide pensions to all Nepali citizens.

The public can join the scheme by saving a minimum of Rs 500 per month.

Based on the amount saved, the person will get a pension after completing 60 years. The trust has stated that the more money is saved, the more pension will be received.

If someone wants to leave in the middle of the scheme, the person’s savings will be refunded along with interest received from that amount. However, participation in this scheme will not be waived for at least two years.

Savings can also be made monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually. But, it should be at least 500 per month.

The trust has stated that it will encourage the public to save and mobilize the savings for the economic development of the country.

Nepse up 0.88 points in first one hour

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has increased by 0.88 points to reach at 1,496.3 in the first one hour on Wednesday.

A total of 626,948 units of shares of 169 companies were sold for Rs 372,800,000 during the period.

Out of 12 groups involved in today’s transaction, the indexes of banking, development bank, hydro power and mutual fund decreased while that of other eight groups increased.

Citizen Investment Trust witnessed the highest transaction with Rs 76,100,000 during the period (with Rs 3,560 per unit of share).

NOC saves around Rs 1 billion by bringing oil through pipeline

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has saved around Rs 1 billion in its annual cost for the transportation of petroleum products.

NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyaya said the NOC saved the amount as there were no thefts this time as the Corporation brought oil through the pipeline.

He said there used to be thefts before adding that Nepal imported around 534,103,000 liters in the last one year.

“NOC saved Rs 1,068,206,000 at the rate of Rs 2 per liter,” he added. Now that as the oil comes to Amlekhgunj through the pipeline, the theft has been reduced.

It may be noted that Prime Minister KP Oli and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has last year inaugurated the Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline by simultaneously pushing the buttons from Kathmandu and New Delhi respectively.

STC importing 20,000 tons of sugar for festivals

The Salt Trading Corporation (STC) has initiated the process of importing 20,000 tons of sugar targeting to ease the supply of the sweetener during the upcoming festivals Dashain and Tihar.

Recently, the traders have raised the price of sugar by almost 27 percent showing the cause of the short supply in the domestic market.

Just in the past few weeks, the price of sugar that used to be available for Rs 75 per kg has now jumped to Rs 95 a kg.

Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson for STC, said they would be importing the aforementioned quantity of sugar by mid-October.

According to him, the corporation is purchasing sugar from Renuka Sugar Mills, India, through a global tender process.

Nepal’s sugar requirement amounts to 250,000 tons annually. The STC imports 25,000-30,000 tons of sugar every year.

The state-owned company imports sugar to maintain a buffer stock in order to keep supply and demand in balance and prevent price fluctuations particularly during festivals.

Tourism minister directs NAC to expedite process to purchase aircrafts for domestic flights

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai has ordered Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to immediately expedite the purchase plan of aircraft for domestic flights to provide services to the people living in mountain and remote areas.

He made the directives to the state-owned airlines at a joint meeting with executive chairman and departmental heads of the NAC on Wednesday.

Stating that the NAC has only two Twin Otter aircrafts for domestic air service and that it is not sufficient to meet the demand of people living in the remote areas, Minister Bhattarai asked NAC to immediately start with the aircraft procurement process.

Minister Bhattarai asked NAC to prepare a blueprint to run the NAC in public-private partnership (PPP) model after holding discussions with the Citizen Investment Trust, Provident Fund, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Finance.

(Compiled and prepared by 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.