Staff adjustment, law making lead to low capital expenditure

Kathmandu, June 28

With less than three weeks remaining to end the current fiscal year 2018/19, the government has just utilised about 53 per cent of the capital budget.

Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada had allocated Rs. 314 billion for the development works, of which only Rs. 165 billion is used till Thursday.

The utilisation of development budget  has come as a despair as the people had expected that political stability and implementation of federalism would give the much needd impeutus to the development work and the country would see surge in expenditure which would have positive impact in the economic growth.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) expects to spend about 80-85 per cent of the revised capital budget in the next two weeks. It puts the budget utilisation at par the previous years.

In the mid-term review of the budget of the current fiscal, FM Dr. Khatiwada had lowered the target of the capital budget to Rs. 265.26 billion – 15 per cent less than the size announced in the budget.

“As per the ministry estimates, capital expenditure would meet 85 per cent target of the revised budget. Many contractors have completed thir work at the sites but are yet to submit the bills to claim the money,” said Uttar Kumar Khatri, spokespoerson at the MoF.

He said that the confusion in implementation of the projects handed down to the subnational governments delayed the development progress. Similarly, the provincial and local governement could not begin the process of project execution in absense of civil servants.

“Delay in the adjustment of civil servants in the provincial and local bodies has badly affected the project execution. The subnational governments couln’t begin the bidding process in time while some of the projects returned to the federal government months after the beginnig of the fiscal year,” said Khatri.

The Finance Ministry also said that since the major focus of all the governments was in formulating laws and policies as dircted by the constitution, project implementation got less attention.

But Economist and former Vice-Chairman of the National Plannign Commission, Dr. Shankar Sharma said that the utilisation of capital budget had become a recurrent problem for many years due to the practice of including developmetn projects in the budget witout preparing their feasibility study or Detailed Project Report (DPR).

“Poor project preparation has resulted in poor execution, and the practice of low-bidding has amplified the problem. The contractors bid the project at the amount which is not sufficient to develop the project so they just take the mobilisation money (20 per cent of the project) and never begin the work,” he said.

Failure in timely approval of the district level projects, poor inter-ministry coordination and hurdles in land acquisiton are the other factors behind the problem, said Dr. Sharma.

According to him, better project preparedness, strong monitoring of the developent projects, timely disbursement of the budget and effective inter-ministry and inter-governmental coordination can breed good results.

Meanwhile, bills from the contractors worth Rs. 65 billion are stuck at various government agencies for payment which puts the real utilisation of budget at 87 per cent, well above the Finance Ministry estimation as per the revised size of the budget.

According to the daily budgetary statistics of the Office of the Comptroller General (OAG), the recurrent expentiture stands at 76 per cent and financing at 45 per cent by Thursday.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 June 2019. 

PM urges parties to develop similar foreign policy perspectives

Kathmandu, June 29

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Saturday that the economic diplomacy was guiding the political diplomacy.

"Promotion of investment, tourism and economic cooperation have become the priority areas in the foreign affairs policy. In our case too, investment has become the national necessity," he said while addressing the 'National Dialogue on Foreign Policy' organised by the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) with the support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

He said that to achieve the goal of socio-economic and cultural development, national efforts and resources might not be sufficient which had forced the government to seek international support.

However, he said that Nepal should not expect economic cooperation in the form of grant while the loan was also not in the priority. "We prefer Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) over the international grant and loan," the PM said.

 "There is a need to expediting development work and mobilising resources and transfer of technology and skill. FDI will automatically bring in the technology and skill and creates employment."

PM Oli urged all the political parties to have similar views and perspectives regarding the foreign policy of the country. "There can be political and philosophical differences among the political parties, but as a nation we must exercise the same diplomacy," he said.

According to him, promotion of national interest and protection of national pride and dignity were the foundation of Nepal's foreign policy. Relations should be as per the sovereign equality where the meaning and essence of the sovereign states are respected.

"We want every competition to be healthy. The weak and small must not be suffered due to the activities of the strong and big," said PM Oli. "We are for dialogues to resolve any disputes and misunderstandings. We are for the world peace. International peace missions, opposition to the creation, storage and transportation of atomic weapon. 'Friendship with all, enmity with none," he added.

He was hopeful of the implementation of the reports prepared by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Nepal-India relations at the earliest.

We are reviewing relations with our neighbours. EPG have prepared a joint report. I am hopeful that there will be an environment to submit the report to the both the governments and we will enter in to the age of executing the recommendations that will redefine the relations between the two neighbours, he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that the foreign policy was an extension of domestic policy and the programme was organised to revise the foreign policy in order to make it more effective and result oriented.

"International relations and dynamics are changing rapidly so we need to update our foreign affairs policy," he said.

According to him, the priority of Nepal's foreign policy is important to the relationship with the neighbours and multi-dimensional infrastructural, cultural and economic relations.

Similarly, bilateral labour agreement with the labour destination countries, FDI and tourism, south-south cooperation and high-level bilateral exchanges were other focus areas.

"Now, we are also focusing on the extended neighbourhood policy and trying to forge partnership in economic growth," he said.

Secretary of the MoFA Shankar Das Bairagi said that the foreign affairs policy was not something to be tested time and again. Rather, it should be stable, he stressed.

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Finance Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani suggested the government to sign 25-year economic partnership with concrete investments and trade plan and strategies with India and China.

He also recommended making a system of distributing incentives to the Nepali missions abroad and their staff for their contribution in increased number of tourists, and size of trade and investment.

Former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Swarnim Wagle said that Nepal should be able to anticipate the future opportunities and threats.

He suggested using 'disruptive technology' to give extra impetus to the faster development.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Bhawani Rana suggested making the private sector coordination and FDI facilitation integral part of diplomacy.

Former Member of the NPC Dr. Gobinda Nepal said that additional budget should be provided to the missions in key markets to run economic diplomacy.

Economist Dr. Posh Raj Pandey said that the technology transfer should be in affordable price, and trade investment, transit and connectivity development should be the major elements of the economic diplomacy.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 June 2019. 

Two commodity exchange firms to come into operation soon

Kathmandu, June 27:

 The Security Board of Nepal (SEBON) has said that two commodity exchange companies would come into operation soon.

Of the six companies, which have applied to run the commodity exchange, only two are getting approval to work in the commodity trading market, said Executive Director of the board Niraj Giri, Thursday.  

As per the Commodities Act 2074, the SEBON will issue the license of commodities exchange within four months and commodities trading business, clearing and settlement business or warehouse within three months.

Some  months ago, the SEBON had sought applications for the two commodity exchange companies, cancelling the earlier applications of five companies.

Nepal Mercantile Exchange, Commodity Future Exchange, Risal Commodity and Derivative Exchange, Multi Derivate Exchange Nepal, National Commodity Exchange and Nepal Derivative Exchange had applied to run the commodity exchange.

Earlier, the board had rejected the proposals of Commodity Futures, Nepali Commodity, Nepal Mercantile, Risal Commodity and Multi Derivative saying that they lacked documents as per the Commodities Act 2074.

The same companies have applied for the exchanges with some adjustments in the documents and promoters. The SEBON has not issued any license for the commodity exchange or trading business after the Act’s ratification.

A commodity exchange company should have paid-up capital of Rs. 500 million

The commodity exchange will provide a market place or facility to purchase, sale or exchange commodities in the same place continuously through commodities contract. They will also enlist commodities for trading and operate commodities trading.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 June 2019. 

Melamchi playing 'Hide and Seek' with the Valley people

Kathmandu, June 26

Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB) is calling for the tenders to construct the headwork of the project next Monday, on July 1. It is also reviewing the bidding documents submitted by two selected Nepali and Chinese firms to finish the remaining works in tunnel construction.

The project has been in limbo after its Italian contractor CMC left it in the middle in December last year. Later, the MWSDB, terminated the contract with the CMC.

The project has extended the headwork construction period by six months from the earlier estimated nine months to 15 months. According to a primary estimation, it might take about 18-20 months to complete the construction which means the Kathmandu-people will not get Melamchi water before early 2021.

Senior Divisional Engineer at the MWSDB Rajendra Prasad Pant said that the office was reviewing the bidding documents of the two firms and the deal is likely to finalise soon.

"The project date is extended after reviewing the activities in detail," he said.

Headwork construction, tunnel finishing, fitting the ventilation shaft and installing the hydromechanical gates and monitoring equipment are yet to be completed.

The Melamchi water is playing hide and seek with the denizens of the Kathmandu Valley for years.

The project that achieved about 90 per cent progress after 17 years of implementation and delayed by more than a decade has no deadline now although at least three prime ministers in the past and as many water supply ministers had said that the valley would receive water from the Melamchi River within a year.

The government has given priority to the project. Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has allocated Rs. 7.39 billion for the completion of the project. He also said that the Detail Project Report (DPR) of the second phase of the project would complete next year.

In the first phase about 170 million liters water per day (MLD) will be brought to the valley from the Melamchi River and another 340 MLD – 170 MLD each – from the Larke and Yangri rivers.

Meanwhile, there is confusion about settling the issues with the sub-contractors and local vendors of the project who worked for the CMC and are claiming that the latter has the liability of Rs. 1.53 billion to them.

Last month, Secretary of the Ministry of Water Supply (MoWS) Deependra Nath Sharma had informed a parliamentary committee that the government was seeking 'all-party consensus' to pay the amount to the sub-contractors and vendors, although it was not the liability of the government, as they threatened not to allow further works unless they were paid.

According to the Ministry source, a committee has been formed including the representatives from the District Coordination Committee and District Administrative Office and other stakeholders in Sindhupalchowk district. But it is less likely to find the solution to make the payment, said the source.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 June 2019. 

Clean feed hailed as supporting economic growth, employment

Kathmandu, June 25

The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Association (FNCTA) halted the broadcast of foreign television channels for 24 hours from Monday afternoon in a protest of the provision on the 'clean feed' in the Advertising Regulation Bill, 2075.

The cable operators that earned praise and huge support for their decision to black out Indian channels to protest the Indian blockade in 2015, have now deluded the consumers despite the latter's payment of the transmission fee.

It seems that the cable operators are the only media stakeholders in the country to stand against the 'clean feed' of foreign TV channel. The government, mass media channels, advertising agencies, cultural experts and consumer rights activists are all praise for the government move to introduce it.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoICT) Rishiram Tiwari said that the clean feed would be implemented effectively.

"We already had a policy on the clean feed, so it was the obligation of the government to address the issue through a new legal provision," he said.

He also said that the cable operators would be asked for clarification about shutting down the service and the Department of Information and Broadcast would determine the nature of punishment to them.

Consumer rights activist Madhav Timalsina said that the cable operators must be punished for their deed of punishing the consumers to get their own demands fulfilled.

Although it's been more than a decade since the 'clean feed' concept was in discussion and the government in the past had tried to implement it, TV sets in Nepali households are full of foreign, primarily, Indian advertisement.

The Advertising Regulation Bill, 2075 which is in the Parliament has a clause to force foreign TV channels to transmit clean feed in Nepal, and bar the broadcasting of dubbed foreign advertisement.

The Federation of Nepali Journalists has welcomed the government’s policy on clean feed.

Provisions in the Advertising Regulation Bill

The Article 6 of the Bill of Advertising Regulation, 2075 has the following provisions:

1) Foreign television channels broadcast in Nepal must transmit clean feed from the government announced date as published in the Gazette.

2) Nepali television channels must not broadcast the dubbed foreign advertisement.

Issue of national interest

This is an irony that Nepali TV viewers are forced to watch Indian advertisement even in the TV channels transmitted from the third country since the southern neighbour had implemented the clean feed policy long ago. Other South Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan have been also practising this policy.

But, the Indian broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had threatened to cut transmission of TV channels being aired in Nepal in July 2017 following the notice of the MoCIT to implement the 'clean feed policy' from 16 July 2017. But, the government backtracked form the decision to execute the decision with an excuse that the domestic television industry was not ready for the new move as it was being digitalised from the analogue technology.

Experts said that it’s only the cable operators who would be benefitted if the 'clean feed' is not implemented.

"I think the cable operators had exhibited their muscle power by cutting down the service. But, clean feed will benefit the media and advertising industry in the country immediately," said Nirmal Raj Poudel, former President of the Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN) and one of the proponents of the concepts in Nepal.

According to him, the advertising market will grow by at least 50 per cent, and it will create thousands of employment in the media, advertising and signage industry. There is no recent data about the size of Nepali domestic advertising market. The AAN about seven years ago concluded that the size of advertising market was 4.25 billion.

Poudel also said that the Indian advertisement had negative impact on Nepali culture and social practices.

Lobby against the policy, a treason

Managing Director of the V-Chitra Advertising Harshawardhan Shahani writes in his Facebook post that the revenue of local media will grow by at least 50 to 80 per cent, and the government will benefit from more tax revenue as the entire commercial television market comes under its jurisdiction. The TV has just about 15-20 per cent share in total advertising business.

"Clean feed policy can set up the base for fair competition between products that are manufactured in Nepal against those imported. It will contribute in reducing the country's trade deficit," writes Shahani. "Therefore, the lobby against 'clean feed policy' should be considered as treason."

However, the FNCTA said that the shutting down the foreign channels was a symbolic protest against the clean feed policy.

It President Sudhir Parajuli said that it was not feasible to implement in Nepal due to the small market size. "The Indian broadcasters had also warned to interrupt the airing of TV channels in Nepal. If the consumers don't get their desired channel, they wouldn't pay the price," he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 June 2019. 

We are clear about foreign policy dynamics

Dr. Rajan Bhattarai

Foreign Affairs Advisor to PM KP Sharma Oli

It is unfortunate that some people are judging the recent visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to the United Kingdom and France in monetary terms. Economic benefits are or should not only be the agenda of bilateral visits. The requirements of the bilateral relationship with the respective country should be considered, we cannot expect same thing from all the countries.

The visit has enhanced Nepal's image in the international arena on the eve of Visit Nepal 2020. We must inform the world about the current situation, changes and development the country is going through. We have set examples in post-conflict and transition management, post-quake reconstruction and social development, and we need to tell the world these things.

We are clear about our foreign policy dynamics. There won't be any compromise in the fundamental principles of non-alignment, United Nation's Charter and relationship with mutual benefits. Present government has adopted the principle of 'Friendship with all, enmity with none' while our geographical situation also forces us to adopt this principle, and the same applies with the recent international phenomenon like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Indo-Pacific Programme.

Likewise, the UN Charter says that all independent and sovereign countries are equal. We will not deviate from these principles. We won't let any forces to use our territory to use it against any other country. The Indo-Pacific programme has not come in a concrete form yet, most of the talks about it and linking Nepal with it are more hypothetical.

It seems that some experts and political leaders are living with the defensive psychology and inferiority due to small geography and economy, but the situation is different. Nepal has made strides in terms of foreign policy and bilateral and multilateral relations. Nepal can make independent decisions on both the domestic and foreign issues.

Although the implementation of the country-specific diplomacy has been delayed, ambassadors are sent with specific Terms of Reference. Economic diplomacy has got priority and it has been exercised to increase the export trade and foreign support and tourist arrival. Nepali missions abroad are working in these areas. However, the benefits are limited due to insufficient production in the country. We need to increase production to get the trade benefits like the Generalised System of Preference, and everything but arms.

A section of experts and opposition parties criticised the PM's recent visit to Europe. This is sad. There should be a national sentiment that whenever a PM goes to foreign land, he or she is the leader of the country not any specific party. We are yet to be mature in terms of such thing. The visit and talks in the United Kingdom were focused in the three areas - 1947 agreement about the British Gurkha Army, British cooperation to national development and prosperity agenda, and growth of the bilateral trade. The UK expressed satisfaction over the political, social and economic progress Nepal has achieved in the recent years. There were also the discussions about the exchange of high-level delegations and mobilising Nepali diaspora in the national interest.

Talks were very positive with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Her government is not a caretaker one since she has resigned only from the chairman of the ruling party.

Similarly, the PM's France visit was more concentrated on attraction and promotion of investment. The PM clearly asked the French authorities that how could they stop Nepali aircraft from flying to and fro European territory while they were selling their won planes. France can provide us support in various technological areas like security printing, air service and cable car.

Nepal also signed agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Mauritius during the International Labour Organisation (ILO)'s assembly.

I think the visit was successful in telling the international community about Nepal's progress and current situation. Nepal was termed as a 'failed state' in the past and we needed to change that image. At the same time, we had to expand the reach of country's diplomacy to attract more capital and technology which is not sufficient here.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 June 2019. 

NPC projects $3,000 per capita income by 2030

Kathmandu, June 22

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has projected that the Per Capita Income (PCI) of a Nepali citizen will reach US$ 3,222 (at the current exchange rate) before 2030, the year when the country will be a middle income country from the developing one.

In its 'Needs assessment, costing and financing strategy for Nepal's Sustainable Development Goals', the planning body has estimated that the PCI will meet the per year average of Rs. 370,557 ($3,222) in the period of 2026-30.

Nepal's PCI in the current Fiscal Year 2018/19 is estimated at US$1,032 while it was $998 last year.

The country is currently a low-income economy as per the World Bank definition ($995 or less PCI). The multilateral donor identifies the countries with $996 to 3,895 PCI as the lower-middle-income economies.

Earlier, Nepal had made an aim to achieve $3,000 PCI by 2030.

According to the NPC, the PCI will be Rs. 149,280 on an average from 2020-22 and Rs. 218,084 from 2013-25.

Likewise, the household income will reach the average of Rs. 1.48 million per annum in 2026-30 of which about 8.9 per cent is expected to finance the SDG investment requirement.

"More affluent households are expected to contribute to financing poverty through a contributory social protection system, paying for recurrent or operation-and-maintenance cost for public utilities and services designed for addressing the poverty," read the report.

It said that the overall households are expected to contribute about 11 per cent of their PCI in financing SDG investment through the out-of-pocket expenses.

"This expense is affordable and does not restraining access to basic services, especially for the poor. This estimation is in line with the global PCI out-of-pocket spending expected during the implementation of period," said the NPC.

However, it said that although the affluent households could bear some of the intervention costs, it has made clear that user fees should not be plugged in to contribute to cost of universal social services such as primary school education, adult literacy programmes, improving gender equality, basic health care, nutritional interventions, and transport infrastructure.

Over the 15 years of SDG implementation period the public sector is expected to contribute about 55 per cent of the total SDG investment requirement, Rs. 30,375 billion, with the highest proportion going for poverty alleviation sector followed by agriculture, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, transport infrastructure, climate actions and governance improvement.

Likewise, the private sector is expected to finance 36.6 per cent, cooperatives and non-government organisations 4.3 per cent and household 4.4 per cent of the total investment required.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 June 2019. 

Rs. 30.37 trillion needed to achieve SDGs

Kathmandu, June 21

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has estimated an investment of Rs. 30,375 billion for the programmes and projects to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2016-2030.

The apex planning body in the country has divided the 15 years of SDGs implementation in four parts and made separate annual investment estimations.

For the first part, 2016-19, a total of Rs. 4,220 billion is estimated. Likewise, Rs. 4,677 billion is projected for 2020-22, Rs. 6,108 billion for 2023-25, and Rs. 15,325 billion for 2026-30 period.

According to the NPC, annual average budget for the SDGs period is Rs. 2,025 billion.

The average expenditure for the first part from 2016 to 2019 is about 33 per cent of the current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

The economy of the country in 2018/19 is estimated to be at Rs. 3,464 billion and is expected to achieve 8.5 per cent growth in the next fiscal year 2019/20.

Nepal aims at graduating from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2022 and be a middle-income country by 2030. The government has given priority to the development of tourism and infrastructure like roads, railways and energy, and modernisation of agriculture to achieve the higher growth targets in the years to come.

Total investment in SDGs (Rs. in billion)   

Year	2016-19	2020-22	2023-25	2026-30	2016-30 Average
Investment (Annual average)	1,055	1,559	2,036	3,065	2,025
Total	4,220	4,677	6,108	15,325	30,375

Source: NPC

Joint Secretary of the NPC Khom Raj Koirala said that the planning body had made separate estimation for the public, private, cooperative, non-government and household sector investment required for the SDGs.

The public sector needs to invest about Rs. 1,111.3 billion per annum for the SDG implementation period while the private sector needs to mobilise resources worth Rs. 739 billion, cooperatives and non-government organisations (NGOs) Rs. 86.3 billion, and household sector Rs. 88 billion annually.

However, there is a resource gap of Rs. 585 billion per annum, about 12 per cent as per the size of current GDP.

"Therefore, we need to create effective public and private partnership to implement the programmes effectively and meet the resource gaps," said Koirala.

According to him, the government will create partnership with the provinces and local bodies, private sector, cooperatives, community, civil society and NGOs, International Development Partners (IDPs), and regional cooperation organisations and will promote south-south cooperation.

The NPC has identified the wise distribution and transfer of resources, prioritisation of resource mobilisation and utilisation, public private and cooperatives partnership, and internalisation and ownership at all level as the major challenges in executing the SDGs investment.

Secretary at the NPC Laxman Aryal said that the macroeconomic policy of the country should be changed in order to increase the domestic public finance, use the fiscal space such as domestic borrowing and the ODA.

He also pointed towards the need of formalising the informal economy.

"Our informal economy is still large, and policies are needed to make it formal. If we failed to formalise the informal economy, our financing model may not work effectively," he said.

He said that the ODA should be diverted to the productive areas, however, the country's operational capacity and modality might affect its effective realisation.

He also said that the FDI needed to be raised to 5 per cent of the GDP from current about 1 per cent.

Vice Chairman of the NPC Prof. Dr. Pushpa Raj Kandel said that the SDGs were devised to lift the living standards of people.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 June 2019. 

Donors to support NRA’s revised estimates

Kathmandu, June 20

Donors and development partner organisations have expressed they will extend support to the revised programmes and financial plan for the fiver-year plan for post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation that costs Rs. 630 billion.

They exhibited their readiness to support Nepal in post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the meeting of National Reconstruction Authority (NRA)'s Foreign Aid Coordination and Facilitation Committee on Thursday.

According to the NRA, new revised estimates of the total reconstruction cost for the properties damaged by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake is Rs. 630 billion about Rs. 308 billion less than the primary estimates made in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

The reconstruction body in consultation with the Ministry of Finance in 2016 had published the revised estimates of the total reconstruction cost at Rs. 938 billion.

Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said that the new estimates were made after reducing the budget of the infrastructure like water supply, roads and bridges that would be built by the government and reconstruction of private houses and other structures by the national and international Non-Government Organisations.

"Rs. 630 billion is the budget that is implemented by the NRA alone," he said.

The NRA statistics show that about Rs. 291 billion will be spent by the end of the current fiscal year 2018/19. Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has allocated Rs. 141 billion budget for reconstruction related works for the next fiscal.

"There is a financial gap in reconstruction and rehabilitation. We are in consultation with the Finance Ministry and development partners in an effort to arrange funds," said Gyawali.

The reconstruction body had urged the development partners to extend additional support in implementing economic and livelihood programmes, localizing the disaster management work, and rebuilding of heritage settlement and urban structure.

The meeting has emphasised amending the National Building Code and implementing it to the local levels.

Meanwhile, Nepal is holding an international conference to impart the knowledge, experience and learning it earned during the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation to the international community.

"We have set some good models in the post-disaster reconstruction and management which can be replicated elsewhere in the world," said Gyawali.

Acting Country Manager of the World Bank Kene Ezemenari appreciated the progress in reconstruction.

Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Nepal Ovidiu Mic said that the EU would continue to provide support to Nepal in reconstruction.

Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India Dr. Ajaya Kumar said that India was working to provide the support it committed in the past. Likewise, representative from the Embassy of China in Kathmandu expressed Chinese commitment for necessary support in the future.

Similarly, the Department for International Development (UK), USAID, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency also showed their readiness in helping Nepal in the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 June 2019. 

BRI to boost Nepal’s development

Kathmandu, June 20

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Thursday that Nepal expected capital investment and transfer of modern technology under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects.

"Our development efforts are constrained by inadequate financial resources and the BRI can be a remedy to it. We hope to get benefitted from the BRI investment, cooperation and exchanges," he said while addressing the fourth international conference on 'Belt and road for development and prosperity of South Asia' in the Capital.

He said that the BRI had become a fact of the present time due to its inherent policy of cooperation, collaboration and connectivity in diverse sectors.

Minister Gyawali also said that it was a common aspiration for sustainable peace and prosperity.

"However, economic integration in the South Asia and with China is weak, so there is a need of massive expansion of development cooperation and collaboration in trade, investment, tourism and culture," he stated.

He pointed towards the need of mega infrastructure to increase connectivity to facilitate the movement of people and goods.

About 50 countries and 29 international agencies are connected with the BRI.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi said that the BRI aimed at delivering sustainable development results.

She appreciated Nepal for its support to and cooperation in the initiative.

"BRI has attracted more partners, businesses and friends from which all the member countries and organisations can get benefit," she said. "China has become Nepal's largest source of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and tourists which is having positive impact on economic growth."

She presented the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), cross-sea bridge in the Maldives, Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and China-Afghanistan cooperation as the successful BRI projects and said they were benefitting both the partner countries.

Ambassador Hou also expressed hope that sooner or later India would also join the initiative.

"BRI is open, inclusive and transparent and does not include any hidden geopolitical agenda," she said.

Former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Shankar Prasad Sharma said that Nepal had given priority to infrastructure development and urged China to extend support in developing key infrastructure.

"Energy, trade, technology transfer, tourism and connectivity are critical for economic development of the country. But in case of Nepal security for energy and trade is critical," he said.

He warned that it would be very challenging for Nepal to get benefits from the business as usual scenario as the export from Nepal to China has been declining since the last couple of years while the import is going up significantly.

Dr. Sharma also said that the maintenance of infrastructure projects was also equally important as their development.

Member of Parliament and President of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal of Bangladesh Hasanul Haq Inu said that greater regional cooperation was needed to implement BRI in the South Asia.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 June 2019. 

NBI signs MoU with Aflatoun

Kathmandu, June 20:

National Banking Institute (NBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aflatoun International; a Netherlands based NGO, on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The agreement was signed between the Chief Executive Officer of NBI and Aflatoun International, Sanjib Subba and Roeland Monasch respectively.

With this MoU, NBI now has access to rich repository of financial literacy tools developed by Aflatoun.

The overall objectives of the MoU are to organise social and financial education for children and young people through partnership in planning, implementing and developing collaboration for advocacy, stakeholder engagement and development of social and financial education, said the NBI.

The Netherland-based Aflatoun is a global leader in Financial Literacy curriculum development since its inception in 1991 in Mumbai, India.

Aflatoun International is offering social and financial education to children and young people worldwide. Through a strong network of 275 partners and 35 governments, the organization reaches and teaches over 8.6 million children and young people each year in more than 100 countries. Aflatoun International creates high-quality curricula, for different age groups, which can be contextualized to local needs or specific circumstances.

With this collaboration, the NBI expects to extend its reach in Financial Literacy for Nepal through advocacy and communication, development of curriculum and training materials, technical assistance and learning research, monitoring and evaluation.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 June 2019. 

CSD organises programme on internal audit system

Kathmandu, June 20

The Centre for Self-help Development (CSD) in cooperation with the Grameen Trust, Bangladesh organised a two-day programme titled ‘International Programme on Internal Audit System’ from June 18-19 in Dhulikhel, Kavre.

The programme was organised to strengthen the internal audit system of the Nepali microfinance institutions (MFIs) by keeping a proper internal control over the organisational activities, from the field level to the central level, by reducing the chances of errors and frauds, said the CSD.  

The participants were made familiar with the best audit practices in microfinance with special reference to the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, which is considered as the pioneer of microfinance in the world.      

Chairman of CSD Shankar Man Shrestha said that the MFIs in Nepal recently had been deviating from the fundamentals of microfinance and concerned more on maximising profit thereby undermining the impact on the socio-economic upliftment of the clients.

"The picture of microfinance in Nepal seems very bright from the outside, but the situation is getting critical inside due to excessive overlapping and duplication of the clients," he said. He urged the MFIs to act promptly to correct the deviations seen in the microfinance sector.

Resource person from Bangladesh Mir Hossain Chowdhury said, “The major problem in the microfinance sector is that the real poor have been left out and the employees of the MFIs are forcing the clients towards over in-debtedness by providing loans to the clients beyond their capacity.”                      

According to the CSD, the participants were informed about the process and methodologies of Grameen Bank and were trained on the types of frauds that appear in the operations of the microfinance and remedial measures to address them.

Similarly, the participants were also briefed about the process of preparing an audit report and follow up guidelines for correspondence as practiced in Grameen Bank. During the program the participants were also oriented on the framework of the new provisions of taxation in Nepal.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 June 2019. 

No chance for govt to make mistakes, says PM

Kathmandu, June 19

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Wednesday that the government had no chance to make any mistakes in terms of development.

Stating that the government was in a difficult situation as various forces, including political and non-political powers, were trying to defame it and create a negative image, he directed the ministries to expedite the monitoring of the development projects and put additional efforts to complete all development projects in time.

"I am aware that the new political system has created some confusion, but we should be happy that we have been able to establish federal system within a very short span of time. There have been no significant problems while the economic growth has caught high trajectory," he said while addressing the 45^th meeting of the National Development Action Committee (NDAC) at the National Planning Commission.

He said that the encouraging economic indicators should motivate the ministries to achieve more.

According to Prime Minister Oli, since  federalism is being institutionalised, sub-national governments are more experienced, and multiple system have been developed to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the different level of government, the country will achieve 8.5 per cent growth rate next year.

He asked the ministers and other agencies to identify the fast way of national development and providing facilities to the people in a prompt and effective way.

"The rights and resources have been devolved to the subnational governments with the aim of delivering fast and reliable services to the people. Create opportunities for better life," he directed.

The Prime Minister also said that the progress of the national pride projects was not satisfactory and the situation called for finding solutions to it at the earliest.

We have to work for better project preparation, and the contractors who cannot complete project in time should be disqualified as they incurred a serious loss to the country, he said.

"The delay in completing the projects causes cost overrun which creates additional burden to the state coffers and the country will be deprived of the benefits form the project," said PM Oli.

Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada said that as the development projects were not distributed in an equitable way in all the provinces in the past, there was an imbalance in conditional grants.

"It will be improved in the days to come. There is a need for greater cooperation among the federal and provincial planning bodies and government is required," he said.

He said that the government was making a mechanism whereby the revenue collected by the federal and sub-national government will automatically deposited in the divisible fund and the share of money will be sent to the respective governments.

"Some projects' management has come back to the federal government which has decreased the conditional grant to the respective provincial and local bodies," he said while responding to the complaints of the Chief Minister of Province 2 Lal Babu Raut who said that the grant money to the federal government was cut down.

CM Raut said that the federal government should have empowered the provinces by providing technical experts and consultants while preparing the provincial policies.

"There is very poor cooperation and collaboration," he said.

Chief Minister of Sudurpaschim Trilochan Bhatta said that poor project preparation was resulted in poor implementation and capital expenditure. He also said that there was duplication of budget among the federal and subnational governments.

Auditor General Tanka Mani Sharma Dangal urged the ministers to clear the arrears of their respective ministries.

"There is a need to change the accounting methods. We have to develop a system to clear the past arrears and not to make arrears in future," he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 June 2019. 

Stakeholders call for stop to insider trading of stocks

Kathmandu, June 18

Stakeholders of the stock market on Tuesday strongly urged the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to check the insider trading in the companies listed in the share market.

Stating that the insider trading was rampant in banking and financial institutions (BFIs) and a handful of investors who have access to that information were benefitting from the stock market while majority of investors were cheated, they asked the SEBON to prepare a database of the individuals concerned with the vital financial information of the respective company.

They made the comments at an interaction programme organised by the SEBON to collect recommendations for the security-sector policies for the next fiscal year 2019/20.

“In order to make the stock market vibrant, insider trading must be stopped. The SEBON should create a database of the people concerned with the information, including their relatives,” said Amrit Khanal, a lawyer.

He said that the media was used as a tool in the misuse of information so it should be controlled by including some additional provisions in the SEBON rules.

He also blamed the SEBON staff for their involvement in the insider trading.

Other experts also suggested effective coordination between the SEBON and Press Council for the effective implementation of the Journalistic Code of Ethics to check the unwanted activities of journalists and the media in the share market.

Vice-President of Nepal Investors’ Forum Tulsi Ram Dhakal also pointed towards the need for having stronger provisions to stop insider trading of information.

“Another matter of concern is the promoter shares in real sector companies. There is a growing trend in the promoters to sell their part of shares immediately after three years and ousting themselves from the company,” he said.

According to him, this trend has increased the fear of insecurity among the investors of the real sector companies. As per the rule, promoters can sell their shares only three years after they were listed in the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE).

Experts suggested that the promoters should not be allowed to sell all the shares at once; instead there should be a rule to allow the sale of only a small part of their shares in a year.

Radha Pokharel, a share investor, recommended policy ease to open the share market for the Non-Resident Nepali investors.

However, Chief Executive Officer of the Reliance Life Insurance Company Pravin Raman Parajuli suggested creating repatriation mechanism for the NRN investors. “It is not difficult to attract NRN investors in the share market, but we don’t have the repatriation system,” he said.

He also urged the capital market regulator to create a policy to allow the insurance companies to invest the fund in the productive sector.

KP Pandey of Saraswati Campus suggested the SEBON to make provision that the public director of a company should have certain level of education or training.

Experts also demanded the symmetry in the financial reports the listed companies published every quarter.

Chairman of the SEBON Dr. Rewat Bahadur Karki said that the recommendations of the experts would be taken seriously and the board would try to accommodate them as far as possible. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 June 2019.