KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Insurance Board directs to issue COVID-19 insurance scheme
Insurance Board has directed all non-life insurance companies to issue a coronavirus insurance scheme in view of coronavirus.
The scheme aims to cover low-income people affected by COVID-19, said the Committee’s executive director Raju Raman Poudel referring to 16 people found infected with the virus so far and its increasing risks.
Energy secretaries of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh meet virtually
Energy secretaries of Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan have held a meeting on the impact of Coronavirus on the energy production, demand and distribution.
Secretaries in the meeting discussed the toll taken by the Covid-19 on the energy sector, balance between demand and supply and the controlling measures taken by the countries, said Dinesh Ghimire, secretary at the Ministry of Energy.
Meanwhile, Secretary Ghimire has urged his Indian counterpart Sanjiv Nandan Sahaya to take forward the process to establish a joint company to build Butwal-Gorakhpur 400 KV Transmission line.
India lifts restrictions on export of Paracetamol formulations
India has lifted export restrictions on paracetamol formulations and made it free from Friday amid the coronavirus outbreak.
India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade on Friday said that exports of the active pharmaceutical ingredients of paracetamol will, however, remain restricted.
It should be noted that paracetamol is a pain reliever. India in March had restricted exports of some 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines made from them.
China’s economy shrinks due to coronavirus
China’s economy has slumped since 1992 in the first quarter, as the novel coronavirus outbreak paralyzed the country’s production and spending.
This has raised pressure on authorities to work more to stop mounting job losses, according to international media reports.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell some 6.8 percent in January-March year-on-year, according to the official data, which is bigger than the 6.5-percent decline forecast by observers.
The country’s industrial output was down 1.1 percent in March from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the fixed-asset investment shrunk to 16.1 percent in January-March this year.
COVID-19: Govt signs agreement with private companies to import medical supplies
The government has signed agreements with three private companies to import necessary medical supplies required to combat the novel coronavirus spread in the country.
The private companies will import equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE) sets, surgical masks, N-95 masks, and other supplies within the next two weeks.
According to Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, Chief of the Department, the agreement worth Rs 300 million has been made with companies including Hamro Medi Concern, Om Surgical, and Lumbini Healthcare.
Yarsagumba hunt banned in Mustang
The Yarsagumba hunt, one of the biggest events for most of the people in the district beyond Himalayas for collecting valuable herbal medicine, has been banned this season by the District Disaster Management Committee of Mustang citing the COVID-19 threats the gatherings of the people could invite.
The meeting of District Disaster Management Committee chaired by Chief District Officer Bed Prakash Aryal decided to ban the collection of Yarsagumba.
Helambu Rural Municipality requests to halt work of Melamchi Project
Helambu Rural Municipality in Sindhupalchowk district has requested the concerned authority to temporarily halt the construction of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project in view of prevention of outbreak of COVID-19.
Since the materials for the much-awaited project have to be ferried to the construction site through this rural municipality, the locals here were worried about contracting the deadly infection as the vehicles continued moving through their locality.
The laborers, amid the lockdown, had returned to work at the Melamchi Water Project in the first phase of the lockdown after the government had allowed operation of the mega-project by meeting the stipulated health standards.
(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.
Comment