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Nepal Economic Digest (May 20, 2020)


20 May 2020  

Time taken to read : 4 Minute


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

NIBL providing essential banking service amid COVID-19 outbreak

The Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIBL) has been providing essential banking service from select branches across the country.

Stating that the rapid spread of COVID-19 outbreak has created fear and anxiety in the communities, the NIBL said it has implemented various measures to ensure workplace safety for customers and staff members.

“In this extremely difficult and uncertain time, the health and safety of staff members remain a concern and the bank has taken all recommended measures to protect them,” it said.

The bank has also provided COVID-19 medical insurance coverage to all its employees to help support their well-being and reassure them in this rapidly evolving situation.

Remittance down by 132.35 percent

Remittance that is considered as the backbone of Nepal’s economy declined by 132.35 percent in March/April when compared to Feb/March.

According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, remittance worth Rs 79 billion had flowed in Nepal in March/April. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, remittance had reached Rs. 592 billion.

Compared to last year, the inflow of remittance has decreased by four percent to Rs 626 billion, according to NRB.

Remittance had increased by 20.9 percent in March/April of the previous year. Since the first week of March, many Nepalis have lost their jobs and some have remained unemployed due to lockdown enforced in many countries.

Coronavirus takes toll on Nepal economy, incurs loss of Rs 168 bln

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has said Coronavirus has caused a loss of over Rs 168 billion on the Nepal’s economy.

According to a report on the financial and economic status of Nepal presented by NRB, Nepal lost Rs 168 billion after most of the industries, factories went packed up due to Coronavirus pandemic in the period of two months.

Coronavirus pandemic has sent all the economic activities including mining, hotels, restaurants packed up while the remittance, the main backbone of the national economy, has gone down by 4 percent.

According to the estimation made by NRB, the remittance will go down by 10 percent in the coming fiscal year.

The inflation went up by 2.3 percent by April 12 in the current fiscal year. However, the foreign investment has gone up despite lockdown in the country. In the period of nine months of the current fiscal year, Rs 16.48 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has entered Nepal, said NRB.

NA brings around 18 tons of medical supplies from China

The Nepal Army (NA) on Tuesday brought around 18.84 tons of medical supplies from China.

According to Bigyan Dev Pandey, NA Spokesperson a Nepal Airlines wide-body plane landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport at around 9: 30 on Tuesday from China’s Guangzhou bringing medical supplies such as personal protective equipment (PPE), N-95 masks and PCR test kits.

The NA has signed an agreement worth approximately Rs 2.25 billion with the Chinese government-owned Sinopharm Group to procure around 341 tons of medical supplies.

(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.

Publish Date : 20 May 2020 08:20 AM

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