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 receives Rs. 304.97 billion remittances in the first four months of FY
Nepal received a total of Rs. 304.97 billion in remittance, The remittance from the Gulf countries amounted to Rs. 153.26 billion, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
Among the Gulf countries, the biggest amount of remittance was received from Qatar at Rs. 53.93 billion (17.7 percent), followed by UAE at Rs. 40.87 billion (13.4 percent) and Saudi Arabia at Rs. 38.15 billion (12.5 percent). Likewise, the country received Rs. 11.52 billion (3.8 percent) from Kuwait and Rs. 8.79 billion (3.8 percent) from Bahrain, the report said.
The share of Gulf countries in the total remittance inflow to Nepal was 50.3 percent in the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY), an NRB report said.
Nepal received Rs. 29.66 billion remittances from Malaysia during the first four months of the current fiscal year which is 9.7 percent of the total remittance inflow. The United States of America, Japan, and South Korea are the major remittance sending nations after Gulf countries and Malaysia.
Nepal received a remittance of Rs. 25.42 billion (8.3 percent) from the USA, Rs. 22.87 billion (7.5 percent) from Japan and Rs. 6.15 billion (2 percent) from South Korea. Likewise, the country received a remittance of Rs. 5.04 billion (1.7 percent) from the United Kingdom and Rs. 1.34 billion (0.4 percent) from Australia.
India is the second-largest remittance generating country for Nepal. Rs. 43.16 billion or 14.2 percent of the total remittance was received from India during the review period.
Irregularities in Nepse’s software purchases
An investigation committee formed to probe into the purchase in Nepse has concluded Nepse violated the Public Purchase Act while purchasing software for online operations and concluded that it was low quality.
The Committee on Investigation on the purchase of Nepse’s electrical system and display board, under the guidance of the Commission on Investigation of Abuse of Authority, concluded that there was an irregularity in the purchase of software for automated electronic business systems. The authority had instructed the board to study the problem after the problem started when the business was started on 2075 Kartik 20 from software purchased by Nepse.
Airlines suspend flights to China over coronavirus
Several major airlines have suspended flights to China over the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 130 people in China and spread across the world, international media reports have said.
American Airlines said it will suspend flights from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai from February 9 through March 27, citing sagging demand in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The British Airways said on Wednesday that it had suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China. The airline’s website, BA.com, showed no direct flights to China available to book in January and February. Germany’s Lufthansa said issued a statement saying it is suspending Swiss and Austrian Airlines flights to and from China until February 9.
The airline, however, continues to fly to Hong Kong. Other flights to China that have been suspended include Air Tanzania, Finnair, United, Air Canada, Air India, Lion Air and Cathay Pacific Airways.
Sugarcane farmers to return to protests yet again
Sugarcane farmers have complained that the mill operators are yet to meet their commitments by clearing their dues amounting to some Rs 1 billion.
According to them, they have also not received subsidies totaling Rs 1.20 billion from the government. Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) said it has been in constant touch with the sugar mills to press them to pay the farmers. “The ministry has been coordinating with NEA and the land revenue office concerned to recover dues from Annapurna Sugar Mill and Shree Ram Sugar Mill,” said Dhruba Ghimire, joint secretary at the ministry.
Five Indian companies in the race to manage Birgunj ICD
Five companies have handed in their bid documents voicing interest to take over the management of Inland Container Depot of Birgunj. Information cited from Intermodal Transportation Development Committee, five companies have submitted their bids by January 24.
The least estimated amount for a period of 5 years is Rs 2.4 billion. The successful bidder will be looking after the overall management of Birgunj ICD, which includes the operation and management of freighter trains, loading, and unloading of trains and warehousing imported and exported goods.
Authorities restrict entry via Rasuwagadhi, Tatopani points
In a bid to ensure that coronavirus does not spread in Nepal, authorities have restricted people from entering Nepal from the Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani points, bordering Tibet of China.
According to the Home Ministry, people will be barred from entering Nepal via these entry points for the next 15 days. The decision has been made following an agreement between Nepal and China. So far, over 100 people have died of coronavirus in China while over 5,000 are infected.
Policy instability takes its toll on herb exporters
Herb exporters have expressed their difficulties in exporting herbs due to ever-changing government policies. “Changing policies of the government coupled with a shortage of raw material have made things difficult for us,” said Rajesh Jain, owner of Bahubali Herbal Essence & Extract Pvt Ltd.
Other herb entrepreneurs also complained they were facing similar issues.
(Compiled and prepared by Swastik Aryal, Akash Shrestha, Nitish Lal Shrestha, Diana Zulkifli)
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 popular news portal — have joined hands to disseminate news from Nepal in the form of Economic Digest.
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