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Nepal Economic Digest (April 20, 2020)



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

No penalty on electricity tariffs dues if cleared by May 20

The government has said that no one will be obliged to pay penalty on electricity tariffs if the consumers clear the dues of the previous three months by May 20.

Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising said that a cabinet meeting held recently decided to waive off the penalty of consecutive previous three months if they pay the tariffs till the given date.

The deadline could again be extended if the current lockdown order was extended to fight against COVID-19.

NOC scraps license of 50 LPG bottlers

The licence of 50 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottlers  has been scrapped Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) as the bottlers had been hanging on to their licences but not conducting any trade in the commodity.

Firms whose licence has been scrapped include Sudurpaschim LP Gas, Purbeli Gas Udhyog, Barsa Gas Udhyog, Kamala Gas Udhyog, Bikalpa Gas Udhyog and Dakshinkali Gas Udhyog, among others.

TAAN urges NTB to utilize TIMS fund

The Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) has urged Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) to utilise the amount collected from Trekkers’ Information Management Systems (TIMS) card for the current crisis brought on by COVID-19 pandemic.

Among all the businesses within the tourism industry it is the trekking sector that has borne the biggest hit, said Khum Bahadur Subedi, president of TAAN. Issuing a notice today, TAAN has also requested all the workers working in trekking and mountaineering sectors to inform TAAN about their problems and expectations from the authorities.

According to Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, around 1.1 million tourism workers are unemployed at the moment.

World Bank to launch COVID-19 emergency programs

The World Bank Group (WBG) is expected to launch health emergency programs in over 100 countries by the end of April to support the fight against COVID-19, with 64 already in operation, President David Malpass has said.

“In response to COVID-19, the World Bank Group has focused on taking fast, broad-based action,” Malpass said at a virtual press conference during the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the WBG news agencies have reported.

Malpass said the WBG will work to deploy as much as $160 billion over the next 15 months, tailored to the nature of the health, economic and social shocks that countries are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(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’s popular news portal — have joined hands to disseminate news from Nepal in the form of Economic Digest.

Publish Date : 20 April 2020 08:50 AM

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