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

Private sector borrowing falls by Rs 24 billion

Private banks have extended a loan of Rs. 24 billion less in this half of the current fiscal year than that of the previous fiscal year. The decline has come at a time when the government’s policy has been to make more resources available to the private sector to achieve the targeted growth rate of 8.5 percent.

Chinese tourist arrivals to slump as Beijing halts group outbound travel

Due to the Coronavirus, China Tourism Association has decided to halt all outbound tourist groups from Beijing. This will cause a decrease in the inflow of Chinese tourists in Nepal, which has tour operators and entrepreneurs worried about the Visit Nepal Year 2020.

NTA instructs companies to decrease inter-network charge

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the country’s telecommunications regulatory body, has instructed telephone service providers to reduce the charge they have been imposing on inter-network calls. The directive will come into effect on April 2.

The NTA, in its Interconnection Guideline, has instructed the companies to decrease the charge from April 2. According to NTA Spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal, the new rule will benefit the users.

Govt endeavors to ease restrictions on palm oil export

A high-level team is being sent by the Nepalese government to meet with the Indian government representatives and request that they rethink their decision to restrict the import of palm oil.

Finance Minister, Yuba Raj Khatiwada told traders on Friday that the restriction enforced by India on palm oil trade will not ease Nepal’s trade deficit.

Since last year, palm oil has been a major part of Nepal’s export and it helped the government in reducing the trade deficit. In the first five months of the current fiscal year, Nepal’s palm oil export was worth Rs 11.5 billion, which is 24 percent of the total export earnings of Rs 47.61 billion.

Govt plans consumption-based tariff on electricity

The government has announced that it is going through preparation to bring a consumption-based tariff policy on electricity to enhance consumption with the rise in electricity generation. Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has prepared a proposal in which more consumption of electricity will be cheaper per unit.

New electricity prices will be set by categorizing consumers into groups. “We are developing a system which can calculate the cost on the use of various electrical appliances,” said Barsaman Pun, Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.

NEPSE off 2020 highs on profit-booking by investors

The turnover fell last week as investors sold banking and hydropower stocks. Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell 13 points week-on-week as investors booked profits after the previous week’s rally. A broker said that all major sub-indices fell, which dragged the market index lower.

However, the fundamentals remain strong and the market is expected to rise again in the coming weeks. NLIC was the top traded stock in terms of value, while the Global IME Bank’s shares were the top traded in terms of volume, on Thursday last week.

The market sentiments in the latest weeks have been led by the biggest merger in Nepal’s banking sector between Global IME and Janata Bank, which got formalized in the last quarter of last year.

Telecom Authority slashes interconnection usage charge

Nepal Telecom Authority has decided to decrease the interconnection usage charge from 54 paise to 10 paise per minute. According to the new guidelines, the interconnection usage charge has been fixed at 20 paise per minute for a call between two landlines, 10 paisa per minute for a call from a landline phone to a mobile phone, 20 paisa per minute for a call from a mobile phone to a landline phone, and 10 paisa per minute for a call between two mobile networks.

Indian onion is brought in hiding

In the current financial year, the volume of onion imports is constantly decreasing. The Customs Department’s data showed that imports fell by five times compared to Shrawan. After India stopped exporting onions, the import volume of onions declined. Currently, Chinese onions are being used in substitute for Indian onions in the Nepali kitchen.

Two months ago, Indian onions were on sale for Rs.two hundred. Nepalese prefer Indian onions to Chinese onions. Chinese onions are being sold at Rs. 50/60 while Indian onions at Rs.120. According to the Kalimata Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee, around 30 to 40 tonnes of onions come from India and China on an everyday basis at present.

(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.