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Finance Minister Dr Prakash Saran Mahat has said the existing bank interest rates will be revised in a bid to reform the obtaining economic scenario, making the economy vibrant. The Minister said this in his response to lawmakers' concerns raised during the deliberations on the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill (except tax proposal) for the fiscal year 2080-81 BS (2023-24) in the National Assembly (NA) today. Stating that the new budget would be coming in a special context, he pledged for maximum efforts to address the economic issues to a larger extent. Thanking lawmakers for their valuable feedback on the bill, he assured of taking ownership over such submissions. Minister Sharma said that the upcoming budget would focus on achieving an inclusive economic growth rate instead of targeting it to a certain class or community. According to the Minister, the government is to take all possible measures to increase the size of foreign assistance. "There will be efforts for increasing capital expenditure and its efficiency from the very first day of the fiscal year," he said, adding that the new budget would be based on foreign assistance, revenue collection and internal loans. He also vowed for effective expenditures. "The government is aware that investment at the moment is not encouraging as the cost has increased due to a high interest rate," the Minister said, adding, "Interest rates will be minimized through a monetary policy which will positively contribute to the nation's economy and make it vibrant." He said that the home and finance ministries would work collaboratively to discourage revenue leakage. "The country witnessed a noticeable development in the areas of health, education and infrastructure. But this is not enough and many more are needed. " He took time to say that the government approach for taxation would be centered in the interest of the nation and people instead of any specific group or community and suggestions of lawmakers would be taken into account in course of the budget formulation. "The focus will be for cutting general and unnecessary expenditures to promote austerity." The finance minister made it clear that the government was committed to social security and had no plan of cutting the budget for the social security allowance. The NA shall meet again at 6:31 pm on May 17.  

Nepal reported 51 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 669 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 26 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 233 people underwent antigen tests, of which 25 tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours and 26 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 147 active cases in the country.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 10.66 points to close at 1,844.36 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1.87 points to close at 354. 25 points. A total of 2,836,139-unit shares of 269 companies were traded for Rs 774 billion. Meanwhile, People’s Power Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 6. 47 percent. Likewise, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 8.68 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 68 trillion.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested by paramilitary troops in Islamabad on charges brought by the country’s anti-corruption agency, CNN reported.

Khan was submitting his biometric data for a court appearance when paramilitary forces broke down a window to get to him before apprehending him, as seen in a video provided to CNN by his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In the video, paramilitary forces attacked Islamabad High Court premises before arresting Khan.

A video sent to CNN by PTI showed paramilitary troops piling out of cars and holding batons before the arrest.

PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said the political leader had been “whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location.”

Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year and has since led a popular campaign against the current government, accusing it of colluding with the military to remove him from office, according to CNN.

He has faced a growing raft of legal cases filed against him and multiple arrest warrants have been made, triggering confrontations with his supporters.

Khan faces allegations of illegally selling gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries while he was in office, which he has rejected as “biased.” He says the charges against him are political.

In March, the streets outside his residence in Lahore became something of a pitched battle between police and his supporters after officers attempted to arrest Khan for not showing up to court on corruption charges.

Supporters hurled stones and projectiles at police while people inside Khan’s residence lit fires after officers fired tear gas into the compound.

Police later cut the electricity supply to Khan’s home and turned street lights off in the neighborhood. The operations was eventually called off, CNN reported.

The cricket legend-turned-politician has accused Pakistani authorities of attempting to arrest him to remove him from the playing field ahead of a general election scheduled for October.

“[The government], they’re petrified that if I come into power, I will hold them accountable,” Khan told CNN during the unrest outside his residence in March .

“They also know that even if I go to jail, we will swing the elections no matter what they do.”

Bhabani Khatiwada, a 50-year-old travel writer, is the second woman in the history of Nepali literature to write a travelog in verse poetry. She has two books to her credit and she was awarded the Sahityapost Uttam Kriti Puraskar in 2023 for ‘Gham Bhanda Pahile’, her first work, and ‘Char Khola Ko Aaganima’, a verse poem. She writes about mountain travel and has gone on many solo trips. So far, she has traveled to Sagarmatha Base Camp, Kala Patthar, Kongma La Pass, Cho La Pass, Renjo La Pass, Gokyo, Dolpa, Shey Phoksundo, Tilicho, and Thorong La Pass. She also works as an Agricultural Extension Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Babita Shrestha from ApEx talked to Khatiwada about her writing and traveling experiences. What in your opinion is a good travelog? For me, the best travel writing is that which carries the reader along on the writer’s journey. Every travel writer explores new stories in their journey. On my trip, I found a single mother, who was crying because her daughter from Surket had fallen victim to trafficking. Fortunately, Maiti Nepal saved the girl and contacted the mother. She wanted me to come with her to bring back her daughter because she was scared to travel alone. I couldn’t leave her alone so I helped her get into the Biratnagar bus route and contacted my friends who lived there for help. I wrote this story in different characters. Other literary forms are structured but, in my opinion, travelogs have the flexibility to incorporate other forms, such as poetry and stories, into their framework. How did you become a travel writer? I love reading. When I first started reading travelogs, I was able to experience and see the scenes without even watching or listening to any audio-visuals. It gives the impression that I’m traveling alongside the author and participating in all of the travelers’ activities and experiences. The best travel authors like Pratik Dhakal and Yuvraj Nayaghare inspired me a lot. After reading their works, I started doubting my own existence and how little of this world I had actually observed. Travelog offers you a completely new perspective of the world. These writings allow you to explore your emotions. When I traveled, I could experience more than what I had read. I also observed that people have little to no knowledge about Nepal’s potential travel destinations. So I felt obligated to share a message through my travel memoirs. Have there been some unforgettable moments during your travels?  I was on my way to Kongma La Pass. Above 5000 meters, the weather, avalanches, and glaciers can be uncertain. There were a lot of scary incidents that still give me goosebumps. In the mountains, life is unpredictable. Many people have perished in the mountain storm, and I consider myself blessed to have survived. However, there’s also beauty within these risks and adventures. I once experienced altitude sickness at Everest Base Camp. I was mentally and physically unstable. I recovered after going back to Lobuche (a mountain in Nepal). Although I have encountered many difficulties along the way, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy any of these thrilling experiences. Is there any particular incident that has stayed with you? I also remember my journey on Cho La Pass. There was a lot of snow everywhere and we could hear the burbling of the river. There was a crater and the land was slippery too. Sometimes I would feel like walking right into it. It was while having that thought that I realized the brevity of human life. Life felt just like a mere flower. Once plucked, it’s gone forever. The dangerous puzzling path sometimes made me think about my own existence. This memory still gives me chills. Also, once I reached above the snowline, I started feeling unwell since I hadn’t acclimatized well. I was weak. At that time, I remember missing my family and energized myself with the memories I had of them. I truly believe family is our greatest strength even when they aren’t around all the time. What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into travel writing? Reading others’ work is the key to becoming a better writer. Books that have already been written are like a heritage which we are losing due to our poor reading culture. Another piece of advice I would like to give is for mountain travelers. In a high-altitude environment, skipping one crucial component can lead to difficult circumstances or even death. So you must know the procedures and rules. Khatiwada’s Picks Ananda Bhumi Ko Aagan by Pratik Dhakal Ananda Bhumi Ko Aagan by Pratik Dhakal is a travelog on Sagarmatha Base Camp. It was published by Dikura Publication and is 246 pages long. Yakji by Yuvraj Nayaghare It’s a book about Yuvraj Nayaghare’s travels to Dolpa. Nayaghare received the Madan Puraskar for his work ‘Ek Haatko Taali’. Aparichit Anuhar by Mahesh Paudyal Aparichit Anuhar by Mahesh Paudyal is a Nepali short story collection published in 2021 by Shiksha Books.

A 37-year-old woman gave birth to conjoined twins at the Koshi Hospital in Biratnagar. The hospital said that Dukhandevi Bhagat Chaudhary of Kalyanpur, Sapatri gave birth to conjoined twins. Doctors consider this incident as strange and rare. Both the children, who are joined from the chest to the abdomen, are girls. The total weight of the twins is 3.4 kg. The health of both the newborns is normal. The hospital said that the external parts like head, mouth, nose, ears, hands and legs are not attached. The woman, who gave birth to the twins, has not been able to tell her address properly. Family members and relatives have also not come in contact with the hospital. Chaudhary said that she already has two daughters. The hospital itself has been providing treatment and medical care to her in the maternity ward under the supervision of doctors. Medical Superintendent of Koshi Hospital Dr Rabinraj Singh said that the economic condition of Chaudhary seems to be very weak. It has already been five days after the surgery, the family members and relatives of Chaudhary have not come in contact with the hospital, he said. Singh said that she was admitted to the hospital at 11 pm on May 4. A team of Dr Madhumita Rabha, Dr Prakarti Acharya and Dr Raj Kumar Yadav among others under the headship of hospital’s senior obstetrician and gynecologist Dr Anju Dev successfully performed a surgery at around 12:30 am on May 5. Dr Dev said that such children usually die if they cannot be separated by surgery within a year.  

As the third quarterly review of the monetary policy draws near, all eyes are on the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). From government officials, business community members, and economists to ordinary citizens, people are looking at the central bank whether it will announce measures to bring down borrowing rates and ease margin lending and real estate financing. With the economy performing badly, the government wants NRB to move away from its 'conservative' stance in the third quarterly review of the monetary policy. Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat has been publicly speaking that he has asked the central bank to be cooperative with the issues faced by the private sector. The private sector has been urging the government to convince the NRB to be ‘liberal’. Finance Minister Mahat during the meeting to formulate revenue policy in Koshi province this week said that he was expecting liberal monetary policy from the central bank. “There is a need for liberal monetary policy. I have asked the leadership of Nepal Rastra Bank about it. I am waiting for the answer,” he said. The government is facing consistent pressure from the private sector to influence the central bank for lowering interest rates. Over the past one and a half years, the central bank has adopted a tighter monetary policy to address the high inflation and worsening external sector of the economy reflected in the ballooning balance of payment deficit and depleting foreign exchange reserves. “The much-needed monetary policy tightening helped stabilize the external position and lower inflation,” said the International Monetary Fund, in its assessment of Nepal’s economy after its Article IV observation mission in Nepal in February. According to NRB, the balance of payments remained at a surplus of Rs 148.11bn as of mid-March this fiscal year while foreign exchange reserves increased 15.2 percent to Rs 1,401.21bn in mid-March 2023 from Rs 1215.80bn in mid-July 2022. But inflation has been high at 7.44 percent in mid-March 2023, according to NRB. To support external stability and control inflation, the central bank raised the interest rate corridor in February 2022 and again in July and increased the cash reserve ratio in August, further raising lending rates. “Looking forward, a cautious and data-driven monetary policy stance supported by macroprudential measures will help avoid large boom-bust credit cycles, which can create financial sector instability and are not supportive of sustainable growth,” the IMF has advised. As the IMF is advising against the loose monetary policy, the central bank is unlikely to make a major shift in monetary policy despite the desire of the finance minister, according to NRB officials. A senior NRB official said that the main task of the central bank is to maintain financial stability in the country and to keep inflation at a manageable level. “The central bank cannot compromise on that as it is the mandated task by the NRB Act,” the official said. "A sudden U-turn on current policy could again destabilize the external sector. There is a limited scope of compromise on tighter monetary policy as long as inflation remains elevated." NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has also clearly hinted that a major shift in current policy is unlikely. “Those who are expecting much from the monetary policy should understand its limitations,” said Adhikari, speaking at the Business Summit-2023 organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) this week. “The NRB will take private sector friendly policy within the boundary of monetary policy.” Given the diverse interests of the government and the central bank, there is the risk that the fiscal and monetary policy will take different directions further complicating matters for the already troubled economy of the country. The budget for the current fiscal year and monetary policy has moved in different directions with the government introducing an expansionary budget while the central bank introducing a tighter monetary policy. “We cannot expect fiscal and monetary policy to always go in the same direction, but it is important that a certain adjustment on both is necessary to take forward the economy without major upheavals,” the central bank official said.

Top leaders of three major political parties held a discussion on various issues including the bill related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. During the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar today, the positive discussion was held on the issues including the bill related to Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the bill related to Constitutional Council, said Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's Press Coordinator Govinda Acharya. It is learnt that important and positive discussion were held in today's meeting on the issues including bills related to transitional justice and formation of Parliamentary Hearing Committee at a time when Monday's meeting of the Constitutional Council has recommended Hari Krishna Karki for the appointment as Chief Justice. Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli were present in the meeting.