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The second meeting of the senior leaders of three major political parties along with the Speaker held in Baneshwor also ended inconclusively.

The meeting was held at the initiative of Speaker Devraj Ghimire.

The talks ended without making a concrete decision after the leaders of ruling and opposition parties refused to budge from their stances.

A serious discussion was held to resume the House proceedings.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Speaker Ghimire said that though a serious discussion was held, ruling and opposition leaders failed to reach a conclusion.

He said that the next meeting has been called for 10 am on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, the parties will reach consensus prior to the meeting called for 3 pm tomorrow,” he said.

Speaker Ghimire said that there is no alternative to agreement.

The main opposition CPN-UML has been obstructing the Parliament proceedings demanding formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the latest gold smuggling case.

A meeting of the House of Representatives has been postponed till 3 pm tomorrow.

The Parliament meeting has been postponed for tomorrow after the top leaders’ meeting called by Speaker Devraj Ghimire to find prompt measures to end the House deadlock failed to reach consensus.

The meeting called for 1 pm today was also postponed for 4 pm.

Speaker Ghimire had taken initiatives to resolve the ongoing House crisis from Sunday.

The second meeting of senior leaders of the major political parties was held in Baneshwor after the first meeting which took place at Singha Durbar ended without making a concrete decision.

Along with Speaker Ghimire, Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba were present in the meeting.

Despite a sharp surge in non-performing assets (NPA), commercial banks have managed to post healthy growth in their profits in the last fiscal year. The fourth quarter report of the 20 commercial banks shows their profit grew by 25.03 percent FY 2022/23.

Of the 20 banks that have published their financial reports, 18 reported an increase in their profits in FY 2022/23 compared to FY 2021/22. Two banks—Kumari Bank and Prime Commercial Bank have logged a decline in profits.

While banks’ net profit surged by 25.03 percent, their distributable profit declined by 26 percent as they have to set aside a significant amount for regulatory adjustment. Although the profit of the banks reached Rs 70.17bn, their distributable profit which they can distribute to the shareholders is only Rs 31.9bn.

The banks managed to improve profits after they focused aggressively in loan recovery in the last quarter of the last fiscal year. However, their NPA has surged as they failed to recover the loans as expected.  The banks’ NPA stood at 2.8 percent in FY 2022/23 compared to 1.26 percent in FY 2021/22.

With the country grappling with economic downturn, banks experienced difficulties in the recovery of loans and debt servicing in the last fiscal. While the banks' bad loans have been gradually increasing from the start of the current fiscal year, the NPA declined in the last quarter of FY 2022/23. The NPA which rose to 3.03 percent in the third quarter of the last fiscal came down to 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter. 

Bankers attribute the rise in NPA to the slowing economic activities coupled with higher interest rates, and the declining ability of borrowers to repay debts. Sanima Bank CEO Nischal Raj Pandey said that there has been some improvement in the banking sector with economic activities taking pace in the last quarter. “The borrowers generally pay back their loans in the last quarter as banks also prod them. The Nepal Rastra Bank also allowed banks to restructure and reschedule the loans of the certain sectors that have been hard hit by the economic downturn,” said Pandey.

The banks’ fourth quarter report shows two banks’ profit has crossed the Rs 7bn mark while three other banks earned above Rs 4bn in profit in the last fiscal. There are seven other banks whose profit has crossed the Rs 3bn mark in FY 2022/23. 

Nabil Bank has topped the chart as the bank’s profit grew by a whopping 76.94 percent in the last fiscal to Rs 7.52bn. The Global IME Bank is second on the list with a profit of Rs 7.25bn, an increment of 46.17 percent followed by Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) which has reported a profit of Rs 4.91bn. However, RBB’s profit grew by 14.45 percent in the last fiscal.

Kumari Bank reported a 24.12 percent decline in its net profit as the bank managed to earn Rs 1.95bn in FY 2022/23 compared to profit of Rs 2.57bn in FY 2021/22. Prime Commercial Bank’s net profit plunged by 18.6 percent to Rs 2.26bn in the last fiscal. 

Banks’ profit

A meeting of the senior leaders of three major political parties including the Speaker of the House of Representatives held to find prompt measures to clear Parliament impasse ended inconclusively.

The meeting took place at the Speaker’s office in Singha Durbar this afternoon.

Nepali Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak said that a positive discussion was held in the meeting.

He said that the second phase of the meeting was scheduled to take place in the Federal Parliament Building in New Baneshwor today itself.

Lekhak said that preparations are underway to postpone the Parliament meeting scheduled for 1 pm for 4 pm today.

The main opposition CPN-UML has been demanding formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the latest gold smuggling case.

The UML lawmakers have been warning that they would not allow the House proceed with its business until the high-level probe committee is formed.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 3. 21 points to close at 2,048.26 points on Monday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 59 points to close at 390. 43 points.

A total of 6,647,143-unit shares of 267 companies were traded for Rs 2. 33 billion.

Meanwhile, Nepal Republic Media Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent.

Likewise, Chhyangdi Hydropower Ltd was the top loser with its price dropping by 6. 45 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 03 trillion.

The National Assembly meeting has been postponed till Wednesday following obstruction from the main opposition CPN-UML.

As soon as the meeting began, UML lawmaker Dil Kumari Rawal demanded formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the recent gold smuggling case.

She said that the government is not serious towards investigating the gold smuggling case.

“The CPN-UML has been obstructing the Parliament demanding formation of a high-level probe committee. But the government is not serious towards it,” Rawal said.

She alleged that the government is involved in the smuggling.

Rawal claimed that the smuggling of a huge cache of gold would not have been possible had there not been the involvement of the government.

She said that they would not allow the House proceed with its business until the government answers the questions raised by the opposition.

After lawmaker Rawal put forth her opinion, UML lawmakers stood from their respective seats as a gesture of protest.

Later, Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina informed that the meeting has been postponed till 1 pm on Wednesday.

The Department of Revenue Investigation on June 18 seized around one quintal gold that had passed the airport customs undetected.

So far, 18 persons have been arrested in connection with the case.

The country is under the influence of monsoon wind and the low-pressure area located in the Bihar State of India.

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, the axis of monsoon trough is towards the north (Nepal) than its average position. 

The weather will remain generally to mostly cloudy across the country today with the possibility of light to moderate rainfall at some places of all provinces.

Some places of Koshi, Madhesh, Bagamati and Gandaki Provinces and a few places of the Lumbini Province are receiving light to moderate rains at present.

Today, there are chances of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki and heavy rainfall is likely at one or two places of Madesh and Lumbini.

Tonight, it will be generally to mostly cloudy throughout the country. Light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at many places of Koshi, Madhes, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini and at some places in the rest of the country, the Division states.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall has been forecast at few places of the Koshi, Madhes, Bagmati and Gandaki and at one or two places of Lumbini.

Amidst this forecast, the Division has urged one and all to take safety measures against the potential consequences.

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided to hold a meeting with the ruling and the opposition parties to end the deadlock of the House of Representatives and National Assembly.

A Parliamentary Party meeting of the Maoist Center held in Singha Durbar on Monday morning decided to hold a concrete decision to resume the House session, Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey said.

“We believe that a solid conclusion will be drawn by discussing with the leaders of the main opposition and other parties to elect chairpersons of the subject committees and to resume the Parliament,” he said.

Pandey said that the deck to resume the House will be cleared after a meeting of the senior leaders of major political parties with the Speaker.

Earlier, the main opposition CPN-UML had demanded a ruling to form a high-level probe committee alleging that the government ministers and high-ranking leaders of the Maoist Center were involved in the gold smuggling case.

But when the Speaker tried to proceed with the business in the zero hour, the UML lawmakers chanted slogans and gheraoed the well.

Speaker Ghimire has been postponing the Parliament meeting by pasting the notice at the request of the government after the ruling parties disagreed with the stand of the main opposition CPN-UML.

“The House is being obstructed. The main issue is how to resume the Parliament proceedings,” Pandey said, adding, “Prime Minister and Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the leaders to implement the decisions made by the Central Committee meeting.”