KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Govt freezes bank accounts of two sugarcane mills
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has, in a letter, instructed Nepal Rastra Bank to freeze all bank accounts of the operators of Annapurna Sugar Mill and Lumbini Sugar Mill failing to pay outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers.
The accounts of both the mill operators have been consequently frozen. It should be noted that the owners of the mills had committed that they would clear all dues by Tuesday i.e. on January 21 following an agreement with the agitating sugarcane farmers and the government.
The government has also directed the Department of Revenue Investigation to investigate the transactions of the two sugar mills.
Load flow test to be conducted within a month
Nepal and China are conducting load flow test within the third week of February as part of the preparation to construct the first cross-border transmission line. The project has declared that the transmission line will have the capacity to transmit 5,000 MW of electricity power.
China plans to procure electricity generated in Nepal after completing construction of the transmission line. Nepal can also use this main infrastructure to sell electricity to Bangladesh, say officials. The transmission line is expected to finish in six years time.
This will be Nepal’s first cross-border transmission line with China. Once completed, the transmission line will connect China with not only Nepal but also with India and other Asian countries.
Nepal Stock (Nepse) drops
The stock decreased further on Wednesday. Nepse ended the day 7.05 points, or 0.53%, lower at 1,313.42 points. Although Nepse decreased the positive thing is that buyers have continued to absorb the selling pressure enabling the market to hold ground above 1,300-point mark.
India turns positive allowing Nepali LPG trucks on Indian soil
The Indian government has turned positive regarding Nepali LPG carrying vehicles to transport cooking gas from India to Nepal. Nepal imports an average of 35,000 tons of LPG gas from India per month to meet the demand in the country. If Nepali vehicles start transporting cooking gas from India to Nepal, the country is expected to save over Rs. 3 billion per year.
NTB promotes ‘Lifetime Destination’ in western India
‘Lifetime Destination’ is the promotion slogan used by Nepal Tourism Board in western India through a sales mission. Since early January, almost 100 local tour operators have participated in the sales missions organized in Surat and Pune.
The sales mission in Pune and Surat was the third promotion organized by Nepal in India. Nepal Tourism Board is organizing similar sales missions in Trichy, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in the coming weeks.
Seismic survey under petroleum exploration begins
A seismic survey has started under the petroleum exploration happening in Dailekh district. With the petroleum exploration heading near to success, the seminal task of seismic survey has been kicked up a notch.
A joint expert team between Nepal and China is executing the task of petroleum exploration in the hilly district. The Nepali workers qualified with experience in petroleum exploration in different countries have been called up in the task. High-tech machineries are being used in the course of exploration.
The mission of sending waves beneath the Earth’s surface is taking place to assemble information about the location and characteristics of geographical structure under the survey.
Solu hydro project hamstrung by lack of transmission line
Solu Hydroelectric Project in Solukhumbu district has completed a trial run back in November and is set to operate commercially, but the 23.5 megawatts of energy it is producing out is going to waste for lack of a transmission line connecting it to consumers.
There are worries whether the electricity will go to waste due to incompletion of transmission line. There is also another concern on whether the length of the transmission line can be able to handle the extra load. The power line project is being built by the Nepal Electricity Authority with a $29 million soft loan from India.
The project was expected to be completed last year in December but because of the delay in the transmission line, the flow of the construction is slowing down. The project costing Rs16 billion is expected to be completed by July.
Nepalgunj Customs Office raises revenue target despite illegal imports
The Department of Customs cited the illegal import of goods is impacting revenue collection at the Nepalgunj Customs Office. But, the office is rising its target of revenue collection this year.
The Nepal-India has open border, the smuggling on import and export of goods and the problem of physical infrastructure are some key challenges behind achieving the target. However, the office has stated that it has managed to control smuggling on import and export of goods at the border.
Some reasons behind what is causing problems in controlling smuggling in the border areas are lack of equipment, resources, geographical remoteness and lack of manpower.
(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.
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