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

Gold demand slumps in domestic market

In what can be dubbed as bad news for gold traders, the demand for gold has remained significantly low in the domestic market despite the onset of the wedding season. The daily demand for gold has been around 10 kilograms at present which is very nominal in a wedding season, according to gold traders.

The demand for gold was around 50 kilograms during the wedding season last year. The demand for the precious yellow metal has slumped due to the high price.

Federal govt faces revenue deficit of Rs 90 billion in the first half

Government revenues took a fall in the first half of fiscal 2019-20. Government officials blame a fall in imports and sluggish economic activities. They also said they have failed to meet the target which is quite ambitious compared to the past revenue collection trends.

They maintained that the collection was still considered ‘good’ compared to past growth trends. The government has discouraged imports of products like vehicles with the central bank distributing a directive to banks and financial institutions to upsurge the down payment on auto loans to at least 50 percent.

Inflation ‘increased’ in the first five months: NRB

The year-on-year (y-o-y) consumer price inflation increased considerably in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Food and beverage inflation stood at 9.76 percent while non-food and service sector inflation set upright at 4.10 percent in the review period.

Similarly, the prices of education, clothes and footwear and furnishing and household equipment sub-groups increased moderately in the review period as well as index and wage rate index rose by 13.56 percent and 9.06 percent respectively.

Tourists increase in Ghandruk-Gorepani

Over 100,000 tourists visited the Ghandruk and Ghodepani area last year. Ghandruk Kaski and Ghorepani are located in the Annapurna village of Myagdi district. According to the Area Conservation Office of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, more than 105,416 tourists visited the area. Tourist Assistant Nandalal Pandey said the record of the tourists was kept at the check post in areas such as Gharkhola, Kaski, Bherahati, Chumroong and Badaarkhark, Myagdi.

Incessant rains damage bricks worth Rs 90 million in Bhaktapur

The incessant rainfall in the last few days has damaged several thousands of bricks that were readied to be baked in 62 brick kilns in Bhaktapur.

President of Bhaktapur Brick Factories Entrepreneurs Association, Natibhai Hyomba said the rainfall has incurred damages to around 900,000 pieces of raw bricks amounting to Rs 90 million. He said that the rain ruined more than 80 percent of raw bricks readied to be burnt.

Likewise, the rainfall also made it difficult to protect the furnace in the brick kiln, he added. Hyomba, however, ruled out a hike in the price of bricks in the immediate future as they have had enough of the old stock of bricks.

Construction of Chobhar Dryport period extended

The construction period of the Dry Port of Kathmandu (Kathmandu Container Freight Station) in Chobhar has been extended for seven months, i.e. until the first week of September this year. The government has extended the period as the construction works could not be completed within the stipulated time. With the extension, the construction of this port will be completed in twenty-five months.

(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal, Akash Shrestha, Nitish Lal Shrestha, Diana Zulkifli)

Economic Digest is a daily morning email digest, basically relatable summations of the most important business news and happenings from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries. By realizing that readers are faced with a packed calendar, 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 by creating news summaries in the form of Economic Digest.