‘Businesses, industries should be opened’

 

Kathmandu, Jul 3

Vice-President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the businesses such as transport, aviation and hospitality should be opened gradually by applying health and safety measures.

"Business and industries should come into operation applying the procedures made by the government while the services, including the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) should be operated at their 50 per cent capacity," he said while talking to journalists at the Chandragiri Hill.

He said that the lockdown that sustained for more than three months had severely affected the business, entrepreneurs and workers so solutions should be sought the earliest in order to bring the economy back to the normalcy.

Dhakal expressed his hopes that the government would allow business to be open before July 22.

He also said that the FNCCI General Assembly would be held next month in Kathmandu. "If the parliament's full session can be held with health cautions why not the FNCCI meeting?" he questioned and said that the business body would make a request to the government to facilitate the movement of officials from the districts.

The incumbent VC who is vying for the FNCCI's senior vice-president in the upcoming general assembly denied any political fraction within the business body that boasts the largest network in the country after the government.

Dhakal also said that he was hopeful for the agreement among the possible candidates to have a single unanimous candidate for the Senior VC. "I am ready for consensus if positive steps were taken to allow the most popular candidate go ahead," he said.

"Especially in the time of COVID-19 crisis, it would be better to move ahead with consensus than  contest," he said.

 Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 4 July 2020. 

Nepal using online resources to fight virus: Gyawali

Kathmandu, Jul 2

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has told the international community that Nepal had been applying the online resources in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the virtual Ministerial Conference on the Digital Response to COVID-19 organised by Estonia and Singapore as the Co-chair of the Group of Friends on e-Governance and Cyber-security the other day, he shared the government’s vision of transforming the country into a knowledge-based society and application of online resources during the pandemic.

Stating that Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have been the hardest-hit by the digital divide, misinformation and cyber-attacks, he called for capacity strengthening of these countries.

He also expressed the commitment of Nepal to work with the international community for ensuring secure, sustainable and equitable digital accessibility.

The Conference discussed how the countries can emerge stronger and better-equipped in the face of the COVID-19 crisis by using innovative digital solutions.

Attended by over 60 countries, the conference was themed “Close the Digital Divides: the Digital Response to COVID-19”. The participating ministers shared their national experiences and expressed commitments to inclusive digital transformation, capacity building and connectivity, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 July 2020. 

EU and UNICEF partner to prevent malnutrition

Kathmandu, July 2

The European Union and UNICEF have expanded their partnership on nutrition to prevent malnutrition in children due to the socio-economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

“The socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis has led to many vulnerable families across Nepal, being pushed into deeper poverty and has resulted in more children becoming malnourished,” they said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Furthermore, with Female Community Health Volunteers no longer being able to regularly visit families to monitor the nutrition and health status of babies, young children and mothers in the COVID- 19 physical distancing context, this has also reduced families’ access to health services. 

The additional EU contribution of 250,000 euros to the existing joint ‘Partnership for Improved Nutrition’ will support the 'Family MUAC' intervention and empower parents and caretakers to themselves monitor the health of their children.

This contribution will support new interventions enabling parents and caregivers to assess the nutritional situation of their children using a mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tape in 308 local governments, across 30 districts.

“This will facilitate the early detection and referral of children with acute malnutrition to the nearest Outpatient Therapeutic Care Centres and Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres, while reducing the exposure of Female Community Health Volunteers and the community to the virus,” said the donors.

The existing Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan (MSNP) volunteers, based in all local governments, will facilitate this new intervention and the contribution will also provide essential supplies such as ready-to-use therapeutic food.

“Through increasing its financial support, the EU wants to send a strong signal to Nepal: the EU is and will be by your side to leave malnutrition behind,” said Veronica Cody, EU Ambassador to Nepal.

​Likewise, Elke Wisch, UNICEF Representative to Nepal said that the social and economic loss for Nepal resulting from the deterioration in children’s nutrition status would be felt long after the COVID-19 crisis is over.

Since 2016, the European Union and UNICEF have been supporting the Government of Nepal to scale up the Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan across the 30 districts that have a high prevalence of maternal and child malnutrition.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 July 2020. 

Transport entrepreneurs warn govt of running vehicles in protest

Kathmandu, Jul 1

Transport entrepreneurs have warned the government of operating vehicles in sign of protest in case it ignored their demands and failed to extend support to them through immediate measures.

In a meeting with Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basanta Kumar Nembang on Wednesday, they urged the government to take note of the impact of the COVID-9 pandemic on the public transportation sector.

A delegation of transport entrepreneurs led by Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneurs President Yogendra Nath Karmacharya had met the minister to update him about the plight of the entrepreneurs, workers and vehicles due to more than three-month long lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

They have been making rounds of the concerned agencies, including the ministry and Department of Transport Management (DoTM).

Considering the continuous demands from the entrepreneurs, the Development and Technology Committee under the Parliament had directed the MoPIT and DoTM to draw up a plan for the operation of public transportation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the other directions of the committee – such as providing concession in tax, rescheduling the loans and extending refinancing - are unlikely to provide immediate relief to the transport business, the DoTM had prepared the procedures to operate public transportation in the COVID-19 situation, but it is yet to be finalised.

But, the procedure is difficult to adhere to, it needs multiple refinements, said Saroj Sitaula, General Secretary of the federation.

The government is not in a mood to allow public transport vehicles to move on the road until the lockdown is in place.

According to the entrepreneurs, more than 400,000 public vehicles are parked in the garages and elsewhere and their parts, including tyres and batteries are being ruined. The government has extended the lockdown till July 22, and although there are indications of easing it in multiple phases after that, preparations are yet to be made on the part of the government.

“Hundreds of thousands workers are facing problems to manage their daily amenities while entrepreneurs are facing hard times to arrange the instalment to repay the bank loan,” Sitaula said.

He said that they had urged Minister Nembang to announce immediate relief and date to operate the public transport and also expressed their grievances that the government had shown indifference to them.

Transport entrepreneurs demanded with the minister to exempt the bank instalment for the crisis period, reconsider the interest on loan, provide refinancing, and waive off the charges on transport and vehicle-related works such as route renewal, vehicle test and pass and renewal of driver’s license.

Minister Nembang said that the ministry would coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health in operating the vehicles. He assured that the government would soon allow taxis to operate.

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Shishir Kumar Dhungana had assured the entrepreneurs, who met the former on Wednesday, to halt the payment of the bank instalment for the pandemic period.

A couple of months ago, the federation had requested the government and the MoF for the same.

The size of investment in public transportation sector has reached Rs. 1 trillion which includes Rs. 700 billion bank loan.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 July 2020. 

Hadad-Zervos gets responsibility of three countries

Kathmandu, Jul 1

The World Bank appointed Faris Hadad-Zervos  new Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Based in the sub-regional office in Kathmandu, Nepal, he will lead World Bank support to the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, overseeing the current total portfolio of around $5.5 billion.

Hadad-Zervos succeeds Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, who will be taking on a new WB assignment, said the multilateral donor.

He previously served as the WB’s Country Manager for Nepal.

A US national, he joined the World Bank in 1996 and held country manager positions in Malaysia and Bolivia. He also served as Manager of the Technical Cooperation Programme with the Gulf Cooperation Countries, Head of Mission for Iraq, and Operations Manager for the West Bank and Gaza.

“It is critical to protect lives and livelihoods and support economic recovery as countries are fighting the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Hadad-Zervos.

“My first priority is to ensure that World Bank-financed programmes help alleviate the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, create jobs, and foster inclusive and sustainable growth in the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and I look forward to working with governments, development partners, the private sector, and civil society,” he added

The World Bank is supporting the governments of the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka through COVID-19 emergency response projects totaling over $350 million to help the countries prevent, detect and respond to the pandemic and strengthen public health preparedness.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 July 2020. 

NC suggests NRB to support for business revival

Kathmandu, Jun 30

The Nepali Congress (NC) on Tuesday suggested the Nepal Rastra Bank to extend the business loan repayment period by one to three years to support the enterprises severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to help them in maintaining the liquidity and come out of the crisis.

A special committee of the party on sustainable projects on Investment, Infrastructure and Employment had recommended the central bank to support the pandemic affected business through interest capitalisation and loan repayment extension through the Monetary Policy for the next fiscal year 2020/21.

It has suggested to provide loan to all Small and Medium Enterprises under the priority sector lending programme to expedite the employment and entrepreneurship development. “Collateral-based loan of up to Rs. 2 million should be provided to returnee migrant workers and youth who lost their job in the internal market,” it said. “Banks and financial institutions should spend their budget of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in developing skills, business plan, training to potential entrepreneurs and incubation of the start-ups.”

Coordinator of the committee Binod Chaudhary said that continuity of entrepreneurship, employment and supply chain was the demand of the time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The monetary policy should promote the creation of micro, cottage and small entrepreneurs with a special focus on youth and women entrepreneurship. In this context, the BFIs should channelise their CSR money to create new entrepreneurship and help the existing ones to scale up their business,” he said.

The main opposition party has urged to increase the private sector lending by 20 per cent, provide working capital up to 20 per cent to the businesses facing liquidity crisis and exhibit flexibility in interest capitalisation of loan and rescheduling the repayment.

It has drawn attention of the central bank towards the possible pressure on the financial sector and recommended to move ahead with the third-phase of financial sector reform programme and promote fintech and modern digital payment solutions, and increase financial inclusion. It will help in financial stability and strengthening of financial inclusion, said the NC.

Similarly, saying that the tourism and hospital sector businesses like hotel, airlines and travel and tours were badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and need ventilation for the next one and a half years, it suggested to show maximum flexibility to the refinancing and rescheduling of loan mobilised in these sectors.  

The NC also recommended providing  Rs. 50 billion SME concessional loan to the enterprises that can be rehabilitated the earliest and can significantly contribute to the production, employment and supply chain.

“Likewise, the Rs. 100 billion refinancing fund should also be provided to the businesses with the potential of early recovery. Rs. 500 million loan to be mobilised at the approval of the central bank should be made clearer and transparent,” it said. It also asked the NRB to increase the size of the refinancing fund to Rs. 200 billion and per loan size to Rs. 200 million from the current Rs. 100 million.

It urged the financial sector regulator to create an environment to fully utilise the refinancing and concessional loan.

Similarly, the NC recommended to be flexible on Core Capital to Deposit (CCD) ratio, create more liquidity in the system with the provision of long term repo and simplify the credit process by shortening the complex documentation.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 July 2020. 

IFC provides $25million to NMB bank

Kathmandu, June 30

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a US$25 million loan to NMB Bank to boost financing for green projects and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The investment is expected to help expand NMB’s SME portfolio to over US$1 billion by 2025 -creating up to 50,000 jobs over the next five years, said the IFC.

“SMEs have been a key engine of growth in Nepal, contributing 20 per cent of GDP and creating over 60 per cent of jobs in the country. The project is expected to see a doubling in the amount of loans available for SMEs from NMB, creating more jobs in the economy,” it said.

The loan marks IFC’s first climate focused lending to a financial institution in Nepal, incorporating the internationally recognised green loan principles.

The support for green financing, excluding hydro financing, is expected to contribute towards reducing CO2 emissions in the country. “IFC expects the project will also build up NMB’s capacity to identify and evaluate green lending opportunities and increase access to green financing in Nepal over the next five years – trebling the amount of loans available for ‘going green’,” read a statement from the IFC.

"Our investments comprise of a balanced mix of real sector exposures which includes hydropower, agriculture, microfinance, infrastructure, tourism, SMEs and green projects that are key drivers of economic growth and sustainability,” said Chief Executive Officer of the bank Sunil KC.

He also said that in the current COVID -19 scenario, the new investment from IFC added considerable value in helping the company significantly increase its current portfolio and widen the scope for investment in sustainable and green projects.

“This investment is supporting SMEs and Nepal’s sustainable development during this economic downtown. IFC believes in the tremendous opportunity for green growth through mobilising the private sector,” said Wendy Werner, IFC Country Manager for Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Based on Nepal’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, IFC estimates the country has climate-smart investment opportunities of US$46 billion by 2030. IFC’s own Climate Implementation Plan of April 2016 has an overall target of scaling up climate investments to reach 28 percent of IFC’s annual financing and catalyzing US$13 billion in private sector capital annually by 2020.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 July 2020.