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The price of gold has increased by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 101, 500 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 101, 200 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 101, 000 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,405 per tola today.

With the government lifting restrictions on the import of mobile phones above $300, the Nepali gadget market is seeing the gradual launch of new handsets and major smartphone brands preparing to introduce the latest models in the market. Realme, one of the world's fastest-growing technology brands, has become the first to launch a flagship handset after the end of import restrictions. The Chinese brand on Tuesday announced the launch of realme 10 Pro+5G, the best mid range premium smartphone with a curved vision display. The realme 10 Pro was launched in India on December 8 after unveiling it in China in November. The Realme 10 Pro+5G is the segment’s first flagship smartphone equipped with a 120Hz curved vision display. The smartphone is only 2.33mm thin and has the narrowest bottom bezel on a curved display smartphone with a 93.65 percent screen-to-body ratio. It’s the world's First OLED display to receive a TUV Rheinland Flicker Free certificate. The phone comes with an attractive hyperspace design with an ultra-light body that weighs only 173 grams and boasts a 5,000mAh battery allowing the smartphone to charge up to 50 percent in just 17 minutes. The smartphone is powered by Dimensity 1080 5G Chipset with a 6nm TSMC high-efficiency processor with a 5,20,000 AnTuTu Benchmark. Realme has used a customized 0.65mm secondary tempered high-strength glass for durability, claiming that it is drop-resistant and has passed the industry’s rigorous 1-meter drop test. Equipped with a flagship-level 108MP ProLight camera with Nonapixel Plus Technology, the phone features such as Super Group Portrait, One Take, and Street Photography Mode 3.0 with Watermark to take stunning photos. The primary sensor is upgraded from 50MP to 108MP, while the 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro lenses remain unchanged. “We are thrilled to unveil the newest member of the 10 Pro series, the Realme 10 Pro+5G. This is the segment’s first smartphone equipped with a flagship-level Curved Vision Display,” said Munish Giri, Country Head of realme Nepal. The phone is available in Hyperspace Gold color in an 8GB+128GB storage option at the price of Rs. 45,999. The phone will be available all across Nepal from Dec 24. Realme has become the world’s no. 6 smartphone brands in Q2 2021 with a smartphone portfolio from entry-level up to flagship segments including GT Series, Number Series, Narzo Series, and C Series.  

With the country's revenue administration struggling to meet revenue targets, the government has been raising almost all internal loans as targeted in the last few years. According to the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), the government raised 97 percent of targeted internal loans in the last fiscal year 2022/22. The target was to raise Rs239 billion while the government raised as much as Rs131.84 billion. In the preceding two fiscal years of 2020/21 and 2019/20, the government had raised as much as 99.56 percent and 99.95 percent of the target internal debts respectively. In those two years too, the government had collected less than the targeted revenue. Since FY2019/20, the government has struggled to raise the targeted revenue. The revenue target for FY2021-22 was Rs1180.60 billion but the collection stood at only Rs1113.84 billion. In FY2020/21, the revenue collection was 92.69 percent of the target, according to Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). In FY2019-20, it targeted to collect Rs981 billion but could collect only Rs705.49 billion. Economic activities and the lives of the people were deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 affecting revenue collection. “When the government can raise revenue as expected, pressure on internal loans grows,” said Hira Neupane, information officer at PDMO. “We usually raise targeted revenue if not downward adjustment made during the mid-term review of the budget.” When the resources in the government treasury remain unspent because of the low spending capacity of the government, it has a history of abandoning raising internal loans. In FY2013/14, the government had raised only 45.42 percent of targeted internal loans as it failed to spend available resources from revenue and other sources adequately. PDMO said in its annual report 2021/22 that whether the government raises internal debt as targeted depends on the availability of the financial resources in its treasury. There are instances in the past when the government refrained from meeting the internal debt target due to its inability to spend the allocated budget. According to FGCO, in FY2018/19, the government raised only 56.04 percent of the targeted domestic debt when budget spending stood at just 84.44 percent of the allocations. Raising internal loans is also an easier alternative for the government to raise resources compared to foreign resources. It is because the disbursement of foreign loans depends on the government's expenditure as foreign lenders reimburse based on the government’s expenditure. Foreign loans are usually used for capital expenditure and the government’s rack records of spending capital budget have consistently remained poor which results in poor disbursement of foreign loans. When it comes to domestic debt, the government can raise the amount anytime it wants as per the need of the resources for the government. The government has been in greater need of resources since 2015 after the new constitution was promulgated and the federal system of government was brought into practice. As a result, the government has increasingly relied on debt to finance its needs. As a result, both domestic and external loans have grown rapidly in the last seven years. Particularly, the size of internal loans has grown more rapidly than that of external loans. For example, outstanding internal loans more than tripled to Rs987.44 billion in FY2021-22 from just Rs283.71 billion in FY2016-17. When it comes to external loans, it more than doubled to Rs1.02 trillion from Rs413.97 billion in FY2016-17, according to PDMO. Though there is little risk of foreign exchange volatility, the government has been taking domestic loans at relatively higher interest rates. So, the government paid more interest for domestic debt than external debt, which has mostly been borrowed from multilateral donors such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. According to the annual report of the PDMO, the government spent Rs37.58 billion in interest payments to domestic creditors while it spent Rs7.44 billion in paying interest to external creditors.  

Flights have been disrupted at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) due to foggy weather in the Kathmandu Valley since early this morning. The domestic and international flights to and from the TIA have been affected since Thursday morning. TIA General Manager Premnath Thakur said though some flights were landed in the airport this morning, both domestic and international flights could not take off later. "Due to bad weather and poor visibility, some flights to be landed at TIA were diverted", he said. Flights will be operated smoothly once the weather condition improves, Thakur added.  

Winter is here, and with it comes cold-related and respiratory illnesses. The worsening air quality, particularly in urban centers like Kathmandu, is fueling such diseases. The Ministry of Environment and Kathmandu Metropolitan City have come up with a grand policy and program to curb air pollution, but they have little difference. Kathmandu is rated as one the most polluted cities in the world. This winter season, people need to pay extra attention, as the coronavirus is still circulating among us. It is difficult to distinguish covid infection from common cold or flu. In the Tarai, many people do not have warm clothes to see them through the winter. Distressing news is coming from Tarai that people are dying from extreme cold. Two persons from Musahar community died of cold in the last two weeks. Those losing lives to chill are from Pidari of Haripur Municipality-9 in Sarlahi.  Ramesh Majhi,40, from ward no 9 and Ram Bhagat Majhi, 65, from Haripur Municipality-6 lost their lives due to severe cold, according to the District Police Office. Ramesh used to work as a laborer. He died while sleeping. He had slept in a straw. Many families, particularly in poor communities, rely on bonfires to keep them warm. The practice of making bonfires to ward off cold not only contributes to air pollution and respiratory diseases. It also raises the risks of death due to smoke asphyxia and household fire. Availability of warm clothes could greatly minimize these risks. From an individual level, we could donate warm clothes to the least fortunate ones, either in person or through various charities and social organizations. When covid epidemic was at its peak, many people came out to support the poor. It is important that we show the same spirit of goodwill. It is equally important that all three levels of government—federal, provincial and local governments—raise awareness among people about diseases associated with cold weather and the ways to prevent them. They should also equip health facilities with medicines because poor people cannot afford to go to private clinics and hospitals.  As our healthcare system is still centralized, the federal government should take immediate measures to increase and improve the medical resources of health facilities in outlying regions of the country. We are currently in the government transition process. The incumbent Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government has been rendered into a caretaker role, and the process of new government formation is likely to take some time. For our political parties and their leaders, preventing winter-related diseases and deaths is not a priority.  But this cannot be an excuse not to address the issue. Government agencies should collect the data of people who do not have proper shelter and clothes, and take steps to protect them.

While six Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), namely UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman along with the east Asian nation Malaysia still take 80 percent of Nepali migrant workers annually, central and eastern European countries have emerged as new destinations for foreign jobs for Nepali migrant workers. According to the Nepal Labor Migration Report 2022, the United Kingdom, Albania, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Cyprus are being increasingly preferred by Nepali migrant workers for foreign employment. Similarly, Turkey in West Asia and the Maldives in South Asia also attract Nepali workers in large numbers. As wages and facilities are comparatively better in Europe than in GCC countries Nepali workers are choosing European countries over the Gulf nations. The average monthly income of Nepali workers in Gulf countries is Rs 30-40,000, and those working in European countries can earn Rs 100,000-150,000. The report states individual labor approvals for the United Kingdom increased by a whopping 975 percent in FY 2021/22 while that of Croatia increased by 247 percent. Similarly, labor approvals for Poland and Turkey surged by 251 and 101 percent respectively. The labor approvals issued for the Maldives increased from 2450 in 2017/18 to 6591 in 2021/22. Jordan and Malta have also seen a significant increase in the number of Nepali migrant workers going there. The rising popularity of these destinations could be due to the policy introduced by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) in 2022, to provide individual labor approvals to workers seeking to migrate to countries like Albania, Croatia, Poland, and Romania, among others. The report shows there has also been growth in the number of labor approvals for Nepalis going to the United Kingdom. The labor approvals for the UK increased by 95 percent in 2021/22 compared to 2017/18. The increase is due to the UK's exit from the European Union, causing labor shortages and resulting in the introduction of various temporary visas by the UK government for migrant workers for seasonal jobs. The UK government data shows that 599 Nepali citizens received temporary visas in 2021 and 415 in the first quarter of 2022 for skilled and temporary work. According to the report, "between January-March 2022, Nepal ranked fourth highest among the list of source countries for seasonal workers." The report further said, "the increase in the number of labor approvals for the UK could be due to the introduction of seasonal work visas." The data of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) correlates with the fact stated by the Nepal Labor Migration Report. According to the DoFE data, 5,997 Nepalis have reached Romania for foreign employment in the last 6 months alone while 4,256 have reached Croatia and 3,431 have reached Malta. Similarly, 2280 Nepali workers reached Cyprus for foreign jobs during the same period. Similarly, more Nepali workers are going to African countries including Mauritius and Seychelles. Official statistics show 228 Nepalis have reached Mauritius and 311 reached Seychelles in the last six months. The number of countries to which Nepalis are migrating for foreign employment has reached 150. While the government has approved 111 countries for labor migration through recruitment agencies, Nepalis are going to other than those approved after obtaining individual labor approvals. According to the report, there is variation in the pattern between men and women migration. Countries like Cyprus, Jordan, Turkey, Romania, Croatia and Malta are attractive destinations for women compared to men.  

The newly established party, led by former television anchor Ravi Lamichhane, is caught in a bitter inter-party dispute after the faction close to Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah raised an objection to the PR lawmaker nomination list. On Dec 10, Ganesh Karki, press coordinator of Rastriya Swatantra Party(RSP), took to social media to express his displeasure with the name list of party lawmakers under proportional representation category. Karki didn’t make it on the list and he blamed the party Chairman Ravi Lamichhane and General Secretary Mukul Dhakal for the omission. Karki claimed that the party leadership dropped him and Dipak Bohara from the list to make room for Dr Chanda Karki and Nisha Dangi, who were nominated under women’s quota. The RSP won 20 seats under the first-past-the-post electoral system, emerging as a new political force.  Karki’s contention is that since two women party candidates had already won under the first-past-the-post electoral system, the party needed just five women PR candidates to meet the 33 percent women’s participation. In an interview with AP1 Television, Central Committee member of the party Karki said party leadership does not want to hold discussions on pressing intra-party issues.  The party leadership breached the rules set by the party while selecting the candidates under the PR category, Karki said. Karki joined the RSP as a representative of Kathmandu mayor, Balendra Shah. A party source requesting to conceal his name said Karki’s entry in the party was a result of a compact between Shah and Lamichhane, who are apparently planning for a campaign to do away with federalism. It is noteworthy that in the Nov 20 elections, the RSP didn’t contest for provincial assembly seats and Shah didn’t cast a vote for provincial candidates. Another source said Shah’s supporters in the party are unhappy with the leadership’s decision to block Karki’s nomination. Some say this could lead to potential insurrection and factionalism inside the party. Already, Lamichhane and his close aides are facing criticism of holding clandestine meetings and trying to suppress dissenting voices inside the party. On the night of Dec 16, Lamichhane called on CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli to discuss the power-sharing deal. The meeting was kept secret from the media as well as the party members. The media caught wind of the meeting after two days, but the subject of discussion between the two leaders remains a secret. Lamichhane is also accused of keeping Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary party under wraps. The meeting, held at a hotel in Budhanilkantha to elect the PP leadership, however, failed to pick deputy PP leader, chief whip and whip following a disagreement among party members. The intra-party dispute is deepening and Lamichhane and the co are scrambling to keep it from spilling out in public. To this end, the party leadership has directed the central members and lawmakers-elect from speaking with the media. In order to keep Karki from raising further ruckus, the party leadership is trying to entreat him with a promise of a seat in the National Assembly. Biraj Bhakta Shrestha is the only lawmaker-elect from the party who is close to Shah. Shah had played a significant role to ensure the electoral success of Lamichhane’s party. The same team behind Shah’s local election campaign had supported the candidates of RSP. Karki was one of the chief strategists in Shah’s election campaign. “Shah’s campaign team was instrumental for the party’s success in the federal election,” a party leader said. “Karki’s entry in the party was a result of quid pro quo agreement between Shah and Lamichhane.” Shah and Lamichhane decided to work together because they shared a similar political line of dismantling the provinces. Karki has also confirmed the mutual point of interest that brought them together. One leader said the only reason Shah has not joined the party is because he won the mayoral election as an independent candidate. “Him joining the party now will not be good for the reputation he has built as an independent,” the leader added. While there are only a few indications of Shah’s support to the RSP, one of them being his decision not to vote for provincial election, Lamichhane has openly endorsed the independent mayor as an agent of change. Shah’s win in the local election had also given Lamichhane the confidence to form a party to challenge the old established political forces. Another leader requesting anonymity said Shah had shown an undeclared support to the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which he proved by distancing himself from the ‘lauro’ (walking cane) campaign. When Shah ran in the mayoral race, he was assigned a walking cane as his election symbol. The cane would go on to become more than an election symbol throughout Shah’s campaign and after his election victory. It became a symbol of support and trust for many voters disenchanted with the old parties. It was also a symbol of warning for mainstream political parties and their leaders. The ‘lauro’ campaign continued to gather momentum until the elections to the federal and provincial elections. When Suman Sayami, who had lost the mayoral election to Shah, decided to file his candidacy in the federal polls from Kathmandu-8, he fashioned the ‘lauro’ campaign as his own to attract voters. There was a widespread public belief that Shah was going to support Sayami. But when Sayami and his Hamro Nepali Party was dragged into a controversy for co-opting the ‘lauro’ campaign, Shah came forward to clarify that he had nothing to do with the party and its candidates. At the time of the controversy, Shah had already agreed to support Lamichhane and his party, a party leader said. It remains to be seen what will happen to the Shah-Lamichhane relationship, and by extension, to the RSP with more disputes likely to come to a head. There are also differing opinions about the party joining the government. Some leaders are of the view that the party should join the coalition government, while others say the party should remain in opposition. But Santosh Pariyar, a lawmaker-elect from the party, denied reports of disputes. Initially, there were some issues regarding the selection of PR candidates, which has since been resolved, he said. He added recent meetings of the party's Parliamentary Party and Central Committee have decided to safeguard the party’s unity and work toward addressing the people’s demand.