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Doing away with the gentlemen’s agreement, banks have decided to set the interest rate themselves. Breaking the long-standing interest rate cartelization practice, the meeting of the Nepal Bankers Association (NBA) on Thursday decided that it was the right time to let the banks decide the interest rate.

Till now, commercial banks used to determine the interest rate as per the decision of the NBA. Now, the NBA decision is not required to fix the interest rates. They (banks) can determine the interest rate of deposits and loans every month based on their requirements. 

With this, interest rates from the new fiscal year that begins on July 17 will vary from bank to bank. With the banking system having investable funds above Rs 400bn, the majority of commercial banks are preparing to reduce interest rates on deposits in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August)

Santosh Koirala, Vice President of the NBA and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Machhapuchhre Bank, said that they have decided to allow the banks to determine interest rates. “With Thursday’s decision, banks will be able to determine interest rates in their own way from mid-July,” said Koirala.

According to Everest Bank CEO Sudesh Khaling, Thursday’s decision will end the unhealthy competition in the market. “There was unhealthy competition in the market when all banks had the same interest rate. Now the deck has been cleared for banks to fix the interest rate based on their requirement,” he said. “And, customers can go to their preferred bank to conduct their banking transactions.”

However, banks have to follow the parameters set by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) while fixing the interest rates. As per NRB’s guidelines, banks and financial institutions can reduce the interest rate up to 10 percent.

Commercial banks had decided to keep the deposit interest rate unchanged for the month of Ashad (mid-June to mid-July). Since the regulatory provision allows the banks to reduce interest rates by 10 percent, the interest rate on fixed deposits can come down to nine percent in Shrawan from the current 9.99 percent. 

Currently, the banking system has deposits amounting to Rs 5,736bn, while loans totaling Rs 4,854bn. Since Baisakh, the banking system has collected Rs 242bn in deposits. In the first three weeks of Ashad (the last month of the fiscal year), Rs 147bn in deposits have been added to the banking system. With the improvement in liquidity, the CD ratio currently stands at 82.11 percent. Banks can provide loans with a CD ratio of up to 90 percent.

With the liquidity position becoming easier, the interbank interest rate has also decreased. The interbank interest rate has come down from seven percent during the review period to 1.36 percent. 

After reducing the deposit interest rate in Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May), the NBA, the association of CEOs of commercial banks, decided to keep it unchanged for the month of Jestha (mid-May to mid-June).

In Baisakh, under huge pressure from the private sector, NBA lowered the deposit interest rate to 9.99 percent for individual depositors. Similarly, the interest rate for institutional deposits was lowered to 7.99 percent from nine percent. 

A love-struck couple from arch-rivals India and Pakistan, who met in a gaming chat room before sneaking across borders to be together, say their passion trumped national rivalries or fear of religious backlash.

Sachin Meena, 22, an unmarried Indian shopkeeping assistant and a Hindu, connected with 27-year-old Seema Haider, a married Pakistani mother of four and a Muslim, playing the online shooting game PUBG during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

“We became friends and our friendship turned to love and our chats became longer—every morning and night—before we finally decided to meet,” said Seema, speaking to AFP from the cramped courtyard of Sachin’s two-room family home, where she now lives.

Seema, who left Pakistan and her husband with her four children by smuggling herself into India via Nepal in May—for which the couple were arrested then bailed out last week—said she has since married Sachin and taken his name.

“I converted to Hinduism,” she said, sitting next to Sachin in the village of Rabupura, about 55 kilometers from New Delhi. “I’d rather die than return or leave Sachin”. While the lovers have found each other, the history of their respective nations is bitter.

India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed nations, have fought three wars since being carved out of the subcontinent in 1947. Each expelled the other’s high commissioner in 2019, and bilateral diplomatic, cultural, business and sporting links are very limited.

Indian police insist that Seema’s long-term stay will be impossible.

“I request the Indian government to grant me citizenship,” Seema pleaded, a red headscarf covering her hair and her four young children playing nearby.

‘Destined’

Apostasy is considered punishable by death in some interpretations of Islam. Seema said she had already received online threats and insisted the couple would “live and die together”.

Seema’s proclamation of “undying love” for Sachin and a promise to only return to Pakistan “as a dead woman” when they featured on a raucous Indian TV debate this week drew cheers from the crowds sitting around them.

Seema said she had been first attracted by Sachin’s gaming skills.

Three years later, the couple met in person in March in Nepal.

She became sure about leaving her “abusive” Pakistani husband—charges he denies—after the first meeting.

The couple said it took months of meticulous planning with help from YouTube videos on how to enter India via Nepal. In May, she succeeded.

“It was very difficult to travel from Pakistan to India,” she said. “I believe that with God’s love, we were destined to meet.”

Sachin’s family only learned of her existence when he rented a nearby apartment with her.

“There was some resistance, but my father and everyone accepted us. They are happy for us,” said Sachin. “I will do everything for them.”

Indian police found out after they tried to get married at a local court.

‘Still my family’

Seema’s estranged husband, Ghulam Haider, left his job as a laborer and rickshaw driver to earn more money for his family in Saudi Arabia.

Haider, who said he had not heard of PUBG, wants his family back.

“I earnestly appeal to Indian and Pakistani authorities to bring my wife and children back to me,” Ghulam Haider told AFP by phone from Saudi Arabia.

Haider said the couple, from different Baloch tribes, have a defiant love story of their own.

Forbidden by their families from marrying, they ran away to get hitched—a taboo in Pakistan that can sometimes lead to so-called honor killings.

“Later, a jirga (council of elders) was summoned to settle the matter and a fine of one million rupees (around $3,640) was slapped on me,” he said.

“I am far from my home, from my family, and it is very agonizing for me because we married out of love.”

‘She is an adult’

In India, the couple have received a popular welcome. Crowds from nearby villages have been visiting them since their arrest grabbed national headlines. “We took selfies,” said Rakesh Chand, 37, who drove over an hour to offer his congratulations, one of the dozens lining up to greet them.

“Sachin is very happy, even his family has accepted them, so the government must ensure that she isn’t forced to leave.” But on the streets near her old home in Pakistan, Dhani Bakhsh village in eastern Karachi, the news has not been welcomed.

While people know about Seema’s story, few are willing to talk about the incident openly—though they gossip in small groups on street corners. “Let’s forget about her, as she has gone and she is an adult,” said Haider’s cousin Zafarullah Bugti, blaming PUBG for turning Seema into ‘a psycho’.

Seema herself is unrepentant, calling Sachin the “love of her life” and insisting she will dedicate herself to her family. “My children will get all the love, care and attention here,” she said. 

AFP

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Saran Mahat has left for India on Sunday.

He left for the southern neighbor this morning to take part in the Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBGs) meeting.

Along with the finance minister, Shreekrishna Nepal Chief at the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division of the Finance Ministry and minister’s personal secretary Yuvaraj Pandey have also left for India.

The meeting will start at the Gujarat-based Gandhinagar of India from Monday.

Finance Minister Mahat will return home on Wednesday.

Though Nepal is not a member of G20, Finance Minister Mahat will participate in the meeting as a guest member.

World economy and world health, sustainable finance and infrastructure development, global financial scenario, international tax system and financial inclusion are among the major agenda of discussions in the meeting.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Governor of Reserve Bank of India Dr Shakti Kanta Das will jointly chair the meeting.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 112, 200 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 112, 500 per tola on Friday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 111, 650 per tola. It was traded at Rs 111, 950 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,480 per tola today.

Law enforcement is searching for a man accused of fatally shooting four people in Hampton, Georgia, Saturday morning, according to authorities, CNN reported.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 40-year-old Andre Longmore. Authorities believe the suspect is driving a 2017 black GMC Acadia with license plates DHF 756, which is not his own vehicle.

The first call about the shooting came in around 10:45 a.m. ET, Hampton police Chief James Turner said at a Saturday afternoon news conference.

The incident happened in an area close to the Dogwood Lakes subdivision in Hampton – about 29 miles south of Atlanta – an area that features lake-front homes and a nearby baptist church.

 Turner said the victims were all adults, three men and one woman. He added authorities were not releasing the names of the victims to allow the families to be notified.

Since the shooting, “all hands have been on deck,” Turner said.

 Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett said an arrest warrant has been issued for Longmore on murder charges, according to CNN.

Addressing the suspect, he said, “We will hunt you down in any hole you may be residing in and bring you to custody.”

He added the sheriff’s office is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Longmore’s arrest. “The suspect is known to be armed and dangerous,” Scandrett said.

The sheriff’s office is working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as well as police departments across the Atlanta metro area to track down the suspect, according to Scandrett.

Turner said investigators “do not have a motive at this time” for the killings. There are at least “four crime scenes that we’re actively investigating,” he said. He added that police do not believe Longmore is related to the victims but authorities are “still investigating.”

 At the news conference, Hampton Mayor Ann Tarpley said “today is a sad and somber occasion” and vowed the person responsible would be held responsible and “brought to justice.”

“We ask that you lift up the families and the victims in your prayers, your thoughts, and that you give them the privacy that they may need to overcome this horrific tragedy,” she went on. “We have full confidence in our law enforcement that they will perform their duties and bring the suspect to justice.”

Officials advised the public to avoid the area near the incident, CNN reported.

The shooting is one of at least 382 mass shootings in the United States in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

The train service in operation from Jayanagar in India to Janakpurdham, Nepal is going to be expanded to Bhangaha Bijalpura in Mahottari.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala will launch the extension service today.

The train service currently being provided in a 35 km stretch from Jayanagar to Janakpurdham and Kurtha will increase to 52 km. After being halted for a long time, the train service has been operating regularly for the past 15 months.

After the completion of the second phase of physical infrastructure expansion, the train service is going to be extended to Bijalpura, said the Railways General Manager Niranjan Jha.

However, due to the dispute over land compensation, the construction of the third phase railway infrastructure from Bijalpura to Bardibas has been stopped.

The broad gauge two-set train was put into operation from April 2, 2022.

A person died and 11 others were injured when a jeep met with an accident at Goudamuni in Durlung of Kushma Municipality-3, Parbat on Saturday.

The jeep (Ga 1 Ja 5229) carrying passengers was heading towards Durlong from the district headquarters Kushma when the incident occurred last night.

Sheetal BK (7) of Kushma-3, who was seriously injured in the accident, died during the course of treatment at a local hospital, according to Suman Niure, Chief of District Traffic Police Office, Parbat.

Prince Chhetri (4) and Chandrakala Chhetri (50) of the same place, who were injured in the incident, have been sent to Gandaki Hospital Pokhara for further treatment.

Likewise, Three-year-old Saurabh BK, Shanti BK (23) Krishna Prasad Padhya (70), Nishan Pariyar (16), Hiradevi Magar (55), Min Bahadur Chhetri, Amrit Sharma (47), Bhajat Sharma (76), Amar BK (16) of Pokhara, who were also injured in the accident, are undergoing treatment at the local health facility.

The jeep reportedly fell some 30 meters from the road.

Police said that they have arrested the jeep driver for necessary action.

Commercial paragliding flights have started from Devisthan danda, a tourist spot located in Dhulikhel Municipality-9 of Kavrepalanchok.

The paragliding flight takes place from Devisthan to Badal village located in ward no 8 of the municipality, covering a distance of about one and a half kilometers from at an altitude of 5,500 feet.

Former Minister and Member of Parliament Gokul Prasad Banskota launched the commercial paragliding flight on Saturday.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has given permission to Bishwabazar Paragliding Pvt Ltd the company for recreational aviation flights after meeting the necessary criteria.

In collaboration with the paragliding companies operating in Pokhara, commercial flights are going to be started in Dhulikhel as well, said Kiran Karki, Chairman of the company.

An accident insurance of Rs. 3.7 million has been established for the people who take the paragliding flight. One has to pay Rs. 7,000 for a one-time flight.