Paudel presents his credentials to Malaysian king

 Kathmandu, Dec. 1

Nepali Ambassador to Malaysia Dilli Raj Paudel has submitted his credentials to King of Malaysia, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah at a special ceremony held at the Royal Palace in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

King Sultan Abdullah congratulated Poudel for being appointed as the ambassador for Malaysia and expressed his desire to visit Nepal to see Mt. Everest, world's tallest mountain.

Paudel and the king discussed about the existing bilateral relations between Nepal and Malaysia, and enhancing it. Ambassador Paudel expressed his commitment to taking the relationship between the two countries to a newer height.

Ambassador Paudel invited King Sultan Abdullah to visit Nepal on behalf of President Bidya Devi Bhandari. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 December 2022.  

IME Pay, Big Digital Store to host Cyber Week

Kathmandu, Nov. 30

IME Pay and Big Digital Store are collaborating to organise the world-renowned Cyber ​​Week in Nepal for the first time.

Customers can buy laptops, mobiles and all other goods at Big Digital Store with a discount of up to 50 per cent in this Cyber ​​Week offer which started on Tuesday.

Customers will get an additional 10 per cent discount when paying the bill of purchase through the IME Pay app, the IME said in a statement on Wednesday.

IME Pay Mobile Wallet App is an electronic payment service provider developed by IME Digital Solutions Limited.

It has been providing services ranging from person-to-person transfer of normal amounts to paying by scanning checks at various online and on-site stores, recharging mobile phones, and paying various household and office bills. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 December 2022.  

Scrap working capital loan guidelines: FNCCI

 Kathmandu, Nov. 29

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has termed the 'working capital loan' as the main obstacles to the business and private sector growth and said that it would not be possible to continue business if the present economic challenges persisted.

Organising a press meet a couple of days after the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) indicated its reluctance for immediate revisal in the Guidelines on Working Capital Loan, 2022 issued in August, the FNCCI on Tuesday warned of additional programmes to protest the implementation of it and exorbitant bank interest rate.

It said that no one should forget that the economy was facing multidimensional challenges because the activities of the private sector that plays a vital role in creating wealth in the nation were contracted.

"Since there is no environment to run the business, the private sector is forced to agitate. This is not our choice, it has become an obligation," said president of the FNCCI, Shekhar Golchha while warning that if the government failed to announce programmes to support the private sector and reform the economy, the private sector would announce additional programmes of protest.

"We express our solidarity with all the protests and agitation programmes organised by the district chambers," he said. “However, we want the solution to the present challenges through dialogue with the concerned stakeholders including the NRB and the government.”

Golchha demanded a halt to the implementation of the guidelines for at least two years from now.

The FNCCI, along with other business bodies like the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), and dozens of commodity associations and district chambers, has been voicing its reservations over the guidelines that put a cap of 25 per cent on the working capital loan. This loan is a facility for businesses and industries to finance their daily operations and is not used to buy long-term assets.

Stating that the FNCCI has submitted a list of suggestions to make reforms in the provisions of the guidelines that could adversely impact the private sector businesses, Golchha said that, currently, the economy has been demanding promotional reforms not punitive measures. "We are hopeful that the central bank will be positive to our demands," he stated.

But the central bank has been claiming that the businesses had been misusing the working capital loan. So, it did not amend the provision despite a strong pressure from the private sector for the same. However, at a virtual programme organised to announce the review of the Monetary Policy of 2022/23, spokesperson for the central bank, Dr. Gunakar Bhatta, said that the NRB would address the demands as per the suggestions received from the stakeholders.

As per the guidelines, a firm with an estimated annual transaction up to Rs. 20 million will get loan up to 20 per cent of its annual turnover. However, it can obtain up to 40 per cent of annual turnover amount in special cases.

Likewise, the interest rate was the second crucial factor to cause problems to the economy, according to the FNCCI.

Welcoming the central bank's move to reduce the average spread rate of the banks and financial institutions by 0.4 per cent and saying that it may cease the interest rates from climbing up further, the business body demanded that the procedure to implement the provision should be formulated and implemented immediately.

Likewise, Golchha said that without decreasing the base rate, chances of reducing the interest rates are bleak. "Therefore, the government and the central bank should immediately work to find ways to increase liquidity in the market and tame the interest rates," he said.

The FNCCI wants the government to expedite the development work and increase the money-flow in the market, attract more foreign direct investment, initiate process to get the country rating, and implement the provision to provide loan to the manufacturing industry at lower rates than the trading companies – a provision which was announced through the budget of the current Fiscal Year 2022/23.

 Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Senior Vice-President of the FNCCI, said that the present crisis was not the offshoot of a businessman being a banker.

"A chairman or an official of a bank wouldn't be able to twist the policies or make whimsical decision to trouble businesses or borrowers," he said. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 November 2022. 

NIA to issues micro-insurance license to seven companies

Kathmandu, Nov. 27

The Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) has selected the proposals of seven micro-insurance companies that applied for the license to operate service in difference provinces across the country.

In a notice issued on Sunday, the insurance-sector regulator said that the proposals were selected from the applications that it received in a call made during August-September this year.

The NIA has selected three proposals for micro-insurance in the 'life' category and four in 'non-life' category.

In the 'life' category, proposals of Guardian Micro-Life Insurance Limited, Crest Micro-Life Insurance Limited and Liberty Micro-Life Insurance Limited are chosen. Guardian's head office will be in Biratnagar of Province 1, Crest's in Birendranagar of Karnali Province, and Liberty's in Pokhara of Gandaki Province.

Likewise, in the 'non-life' category, proposals of Trust Micro-Insurance Company Limited, Nepal Micro-Insurance Company Limited, Star Micro-Insurance Company Limited and Protective Micro-Insurance Company Limited are selected.

Head office of Trust will be in Butwal of Lumbini Province, Nepal's in Bharatpur of Bagmati Province, Star's in Janakpurdham of Madhes Province and Protective's in Dhangadhi in Sururpaschim Province.

The country already has 19 life, 19 non-life insurance and two reinsurance companies while the government runs a micro-health insurance as well.

The insurance regulator has opened a license for new micro-insurance companies at the time when it has been urging the companies to go for a merger. As a result, Himalayan General Insurance Company and Everest Insurance Company Limited concluded a merger in July this year to make a new company 'Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited'.

Likewise, half a dozen other insurance companies have shown interest for the merger while some have already signed memorandum of understanding for the same.

According to the NIA, about 41.20 per cent population, including the foreign employment policies, in the country is covered by life insurance. Likewise, insurance penetration is 2.86 per cent in life insurance and 0.81 per cent in non-life insurance.

In terms of gross premium collection, the life insurance companies witnessed a growth of 14.63 per cent in Fiscal Year 2021/22 against that of the 2020/21. In monetary terms, life insurance companies earned Rs. 138.64 billion last year and Rs. 120.95 billion in 2020/21.

Likewise, the non-life insurance companies had earned Rs. 31.7 billion premium in 2020/21 which increased to Rs. 39.17 billion last year; it was a growth of 23.56 per cent.

So far, there are 296,403 insurance agents and 1,240 surveyors in Nepal.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 November 2022. 

CRN facility for NRN announced

 Kathmandu, Nov. 27

Nepali nationals working in foreign countries can now obtain the C-ASBA Registration Number (CRN) by opening account at the bank and financial institutions that have authority to accept application to purchase securities. The migrant workers have to open a Remittance Savings Account.

The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) said on Sunday that it has made an arrangement to whereby the BFIs can enter their customers' remittance saving accounts and CRNs.

Securities Issue and Allotment (Sixth Amendment) Guideline, 2022 issued by the SEBON, has a provision to provide ten percent of the shares issued to the public by any company to the Nepalis who are employed abroad after obtaining work permits from the relevant agencies of the Government of Nepal.

For Nepalis who have received labor approval from the relevant government body and are employed abroad, the CRN number registered with the remittance savings account is mandatory for the purchase of shares. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 November 2022. 

In a worrying trend, trade deficit continues to widen

Kathmandu, Nov. 27

Nepal's trade deficit with India has increased by Rs. 445.1 billion in the last five years to reach Rs. 1044.9 billion in the Fiscal Year 2021/22.

In the Fiscal Year 2016/17, Nepal's trade deficit with India was Rs. 599.7 billion with the export of Rs. 41.6 billion and import of Rs. 641.4 billion. The imports from the southern neighbour have climbed to Rs. 1200.1 billion while exports reached Rs. 155.2 billion in the last fiscal year.

The total trade deficit of Nepal in 2021/22 was Rs. 1.7 trillion.

Nepal's major imports from India are petroleum products (diesel, petrol and liquified petroleum gas), vehicles and their parts, motorcycles, ceramics, iron and steel, crude soyabean oil, crude sunflower oil and sugar. Nepal imports petroleum products worth Rs. 116 billion.

Similarly, major exports to India are soyabean oil, palm oil, woven fabrics, carpets and textiles, large cardamom, sunflower seed and oil, juice, yarn, tea and animal food.

Likewise, another immediate neighbour, China, is another trade partner with which Nepal witnesses the second largest trade deficit of Rs. 263.9 billion in 2021/22. Five years ago, the size of trade deficit was less than half of the last fiscal, Rs. 128.1 billion. But it is surprising that Nepal's export to China has dropped by 52.5 per cent over the period – the goods export from Nepal to China was Rs. 170.14 billion in 2016/17 but it has tumbled to Rs. 80.87 billion last year.

Meanwhile, import from China has increased to Rs. 264.7 billion from Rs. 129.8 billion. China shut the borders with Nepal citing the coronavirus pandemic and has promised to ease the bilateral trade with its neighbour only recently. While goods from China continue to flow into the country, the producers and exporters from Nepal face a number of hurdles in sending goods there. Especially, the customs in Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani witnessed zero exports for a long period. There were no exports from these two customs points last year while China sent goods worth Rs. 26.6 billion through Rasuwagadhi and Rs. 14 billion from Tatopani border points to Nepal.

Other countries that top the list of Nepal's trade deficit last year include Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Argentina, the United States of America, Australia, Ukraine, Malaysia and Brazil.

They included India, China, UAE, France, Indonesia, Argentina, Thailand, South Korea, Canada and Malaysia in 2016/17.

Nepal's export to Argentina stands at meagre Rs. 1.4 million while imports are worth Rs. 39.6 billion. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 November 2022. 

Nifra approves Rs. 909m cash dividend

Kathmandu, Nov. 26

The fourth Annual General Meeting of the Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (Nifra) has approved the cash dividend (including tax) of Rs. 909.4 million - 4.21 per cent of its Rs. 21.6 billion paid-up capital.

By the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22, the bank has approved loans of Rs.  32.89 billion and mobilised Rs. 15.58 billion in various development projects. It earned Rs. 1.2 billion net profit last year.

The AGM held on Saturday in Kathmandu was chaired by Anuj Agrawal, Chairman of the Bank Board of Directors while members of the boards Kedarnath Sharma, Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Lalmani Joshi, Shankar Prasad Adhikari, Suman Pokharel, Lima Adhikari Acharya and the bank's chief executive officer, Ramakrishna Khatiwada were present.

Nifra was established with the objective of increasing access to investment in infrastructure projects in the country by collecting long-term resources from domestic and foreign financial markets. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 November 2022.