KATHMANDU: Economic Digest, a daily morning email digest, is basically a relatable summation of important business news from Nepal into easy-to-understand summaries.
Nepal’s foreign loan and grant go down
The figure in both the foreign grant and loan has gone down in the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2019/20.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Nepal has received Rs 118.81 billion from foreign countries in foreign aid, of which, 16.190 billion has been received as grant aid while the 102.62 billion as loan.
The percentage of grant aid is 13.6 while the foreign loan is put at 84.4 percent. Nepal has received Rs 15.14 billion in foreign aid in the period of nine months – less by 5.1 percent compared to the foreign aid received in the last fiscal year.
It had received 16.38 billion as foreign grant in the first nine months in the fiscal year 2018/19.
Similarly, the foreign loan has also gone down by 10.5 percent. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the government received Rs 33.66 billion as foreign loan.
Finance Committee suggests to bring 175 bln stimulus package
The Financial Committee of the Federal Parliament has advised the government to bring a stimulus package worth Rs 175 billion through the upcoming fiscal budget.
The parliamentary committee has suggested that the government allocate the five percent of the total budget to address the current economic crisis caused by the Corona virus.
According to the Committee, the size of the upcoming budget will reach around Rs 17 trillion while the budget of the last fiscal year was put at Rs 15.32 trillion.
The Committee has advised to allocate around 45 percent budget of the Gross Domestic Product so as to give continuity to the ongoing programs and to provide relief to the Coronavirus-hit areas.
Meanwhile, it has directed the government to plan to collect Rs 10 trillion in revenue without increasing the taxation rate in the upcoming fiscal year.
Hotels, resorts to be used for quarantine
Minister of State Rambir Manandhar has said hotels and resorts will be used as quarantine facilities to accommodate Nepalis to be brought from abroad.
He said that necessary discussions have started to use hotels and resorts operating in systematic manner as quarantine centers.
State Minister Manandhar said 518 beds are currently ready in Kathmandu Valley. According to him, around 65 thousand quarantine beds have been readied across the country while 25 thousand people are living in quarantines.
Minister of State Manandhar said that the government could use the hotels and resorts vacant at present by paying a certain amount for saving people’s lives.
All shops except pharmacies to be closed in two Nagarjun wards
All shops excluding pharmacies in wards 9 and 10 of Nagarjun Municipality in Kathmandu has been closed from Friday until further notice.
The decision has been taken by two wards of the municipality to ward off coronavirus pandemic.
A statement issued by Ward Chairman of Ward No. 9 Ram Krishna Bhattarai and Ward Chairman of Ward No. 10 Sundar Bahadur KC directed to close all the shops including fruits, vegetables and food grains and meat except pharmacies from 9 am Friday until further notice.
(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.
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