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

Full cooking gas cylinders to be available from Sunday

The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has decided to sell full Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders from Sunday.

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the NOC took the decision to open the sale of a full cylinder weighing 14.2-kg.

NOC spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay shared that the LPG companies will be allowed to fill LPG cylinders to the full from Thursday.

Lockdown sees increase in cashless transaction

Electronic transactions have been increasing as a result of the lockdown imposed by the government to stem the spread of the Coronavirus.

As of the second week of the lockdown, e-transaction worth Rs. 35.6 billion has been recorded, according to Nepal Clearing House Limited.

The companies had urged the corporation to allow the sale and distribution of full cylinders citing dwindle in the sale volume of a half-filled cylinder in the recent days.

Tatopani border point resumes after three months

Tatopani border point, a major trading route between Nepal and China, has resumed operation from Wednesday.

The border entry point had been closed since January 27.

Sindhupalchowk Chief District Officer Umesh Kumar Dhakal said that a health desk has been established at the border point to ward off infection of COVID-19.

Some 19 boxes of masks and 10 boxes of sanitizers were imported on Wednesday.

Kalimati fruits and vegetables market shut down

Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables market, the biggest agro-market in the country, has been shut down.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has closed down the vegetables market in an effort to stem the spread of Coronavirus.

The chances of transmission of the deadly virus were high if the market was not shut down since the huge number of customers flock to Kalimati to purchase vegetables every day, said Ishwarman Dangol, spokesperson of KMC.

The Metropolis, however, has not banned the entry of the fruits and vegetables into the capital. It has arranged 11 different places in the capital including Khula Manch, Tinkune, Gaushala, Chakrapath, Maharajgunj, Balaju for the sale of the vegetables, according to Dangol.

NDL struggling to supply sanitizer to market due to lockdown

The Nepal Drugs Limited (NDL) is struggling to supply the hand sanitizer it has been producing to the market due to the lockdown.

NDL officiating general manager Bijayashree Ratna Bajracharya informed that as many as 60,000 bottles of sanitizer they produced have remained in the storehouse as it could not be transported and supplied due to the lockdown.

The government body has been able to supply the product to the market in the Kathmandu Valley only despite the high demand for sanitizer in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NDL is currently producing up to 20,000 bottles of sanitizer daily as per the World Health Organization (WHO) standard by purchasing alcohol from various industries.

Besides sanitizer, the NDL has been manufacturing oral rehydration salt sachets, paracetamol, among other drugs. The price of a 100-millilitre-bottle of sanitizer manufactured by NDL is Rs 175.

Import of Euro-6 standard petroleum products uncertain

The import of Euro-6 standard petroleum products has become uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spokesperson at Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), Binit Mani Upadhyaya, discussion about importing the Euro-6 oil has been postponed due to the spread of coronavirus.

As per the schedule, Nepal would import Euro-6 standard petroleum products from mid-April. After the control of COVID-19, NOC is planning to discuss with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on importing the oil.

Nepal is using Euro-4 standard petroleum products which include 50 PPA sulphuric. It is said that Euro-6 has only 10 PPA sulphuric which helps to minimize environmental pollution.

(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. 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.