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Nepal reported 91 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 336 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 27 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 196 people underwent antigen tests, of which 64 tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours and 59 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 220 active cases in the country.    

Three persons died and five others were injured when a truck hit a house in Bandipur. Police identified the deceased as Ayush Bhujel (12), Chet Bahadur Gharti (50) and San Bahadur Bhujel (69) of Bandupur Rural Municipality-1. DSP Mohan Bahadur Khand said that all of them died in the course of treatment at the Purano Medical College in Bharatpur. Police said that the incident occurred after the driver lost control of the vehicle (Na 4 Kha 1973) and hit the houses belonging to Sanumaya Bhujel and San Bahadur Bhujel near Aadhikhola in Bandipur Rural Municipality-5 of Tanahun along the Prithvi Highway. The injured have been identified as Ayusha Bhujel (6), Jasmin Bhujel (10), Ishwor Bhujel (10), Samir Bhujel (8) and Santosh Bhujel (5). Following the incident, locals obstructed the highway for four hours.    

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 9. 18 points to close at 1,857.23 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 19 points to close at 355. 83 points. A total of 2,155,586-unit shares of 265 companies were traded for Rs 620 billion. Meanwhile, Atmanirbhar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 6. 09 percent. Likewise, NIBL Growth Fund was the top loser with its price dropping by 5. 35 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 70 trillion.  

For the first time in the history of the Nepali capital market, banks are all set to receive licenses to operate stock brokerage services. With the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) issuing letters of intent (LoIs) to 16 brokerage firms including seven subsidiary companies of commercial banks on Monday, the deck has been cleared for banks to get into stock broking. The subsidiary companies of seven commercial banks, namely Nabil Bank, Nepal Investment Mega Bank, Citizens Bank, Kumari Bank, NMB Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, and Sanima Bank will be allowed to operate stock brokerage transactions. Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) was established in Nepal on January 13, 1994. In the same year, the first stock brokerage firm Sewa Securities was established. At present, there are 50 brokerage companies operating in Nepal including one stock dealer company. Banks have long sought to get permits for stock brokerage services that they intend to provide through their subsidiary companies. Sebon in 2007 introduced a policy of granting brokerage licenses to subsidiaries of BFIs. However, the plan failed after the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued instructions that the bank's subsidiary companies could not operate as stock brokers. Similarly, influential stock brokers also lobbied heavily to stop banks from getting stock brokerage licenses. In 2017, Sebon and the Finance Ministry again started preparations to grant brokerage licenses to BFIs. The central bank, through the monetary policy, introduced a policy that brokerage licenses could be given to the subsidiaries of BFIs. However, it again got stalled after the Parliamentary Finance Committee stopped the process. After the Finance Committee’s green signal, the Sebon amended the necessary regulations and invited applications in the third week of September last year for the new stock brokerage licenses. A total of 45 companies including the subsidiaries of the commercial banks applied for the licenses. Of the 16 companies that received LoIs from Sebon for stock brokerage licenses, 7 were the subsidiaries of commercial banks. These include Nabil Securities, Mega Stock Market, CBIL Securities, KBL Securities, NMB Securities, RBB Securities, and Sanima Securities. Nabil Securities, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 1.5 billion, has received LoI for trading of shares, and to work as a share underwriter and as a qualified institutional investor. Similarly, Mega Stock, which has paid-up capital is Rs 600 million, has received LoI to manage the investment and act as a depository member.

The recovery in tourist arrival has continued as Nepal welcomed 98,773 foreign visitors in April 2023. The latest statistics from the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) show that tourism in Nepal has largely recovered from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The tourist footfall in April 2023 is 90.28 percent compared to April 2019 when 109,399 foreigners visited Nepal. The tourist arrival has surged by 132.67 percent in the first four months of 2023. According to NTB, 326,528 tourists visited Nepal in the first four months of 2023 compared to 140,336 during the same period of 2022. Nepal welcomed 55,074 international visitors in January, 73,255 in February, and 99,426 in March. While the number of Chinese visitors is gradually improving, Nepal received the highest number of tourists from India, the US, and the United Kingdom in April. According to NTB, 31,437 Indian tourists and 8,413 US visitors came to Nepal in April. The country welcomed 5,409 tourists from the United Kingdom, 4,770 from China, 3,828 from Australia, 3,246 from Germany, and 3,211 from France. While there has been a huge improvement in tourist arrivals this year, it is yet to touch the pre-Covid level. Nepal received 420,446 tourists in the first four months of 2019. The arrival of foreigners in the first four months of 2023 is 77.66 percent compared to the same period in 2019. With the easing of travel restrictions and China reponing outbound travel for its citizens, Nepali tourism entrepreneurs are pinning high hopes for 2023. NTB on its 24th anniversary announced that it aims to attract at least one million foreign tourists in 2023. In 2022, tourist arrivals reached over 600,000 without any significant contribution from China. Only 9,595 Chinese tourists visited Nepal in 2022. Tour operators say they are receiving increasing fresh inquiries from major source markets including China. While the FITs (free independent travelers) have already started coming to Nepal, group travelers from the northern neighbor arrived in the second week of April, the first group tour from China after the Covid-19 pandemic. The arrival of 180 Chinese trekkers in Nepal on April 13 has rekindled hopes for Nepal's tourism sector. They were the first of four batches of nearly 8,00 Chinese trekkers to visit Nepal to trek on the Poon Hill trail located some 270 kilometers west of Kathmandu. This visit has come after China included Nepal on a second list of 40 destinations for group tours that Chinese nationals could visit starting from March 15. After China reopened its door to its citizens to visit Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Nepali travel trade entrepreneurs are visiting various Chinese cities to promote Nepal tourism. Travel trade entrepreneurs say that a significant contribution of Chinese tourists would be required if Nepal wants to meet the target of one million visitors in 2023. Tourist arrivals

The bodies of two women and a man among the five people who went missing in an avalanche at Byas Rural Municipality-1 of Darchula district have been found today. They had gone to the foothills of the Himalayas to collect yarsagumba (Cordecyps sinensis), the valuable alpine herb. The Armed Police Force (APF) had rescued seven persons on Tuesday and five had been missing. Chief of APF No 50 Company based in Chhangru of Darchula, Deputy Superintendent Ishwori Datta Bhatta said that three bodies were found this afternoon. "Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force personnel and locals have reached the site after the bodies were found. Although the bodies have been found, their identity is yet to be ascertained," Bhatta said. Although the APF team was mobilized for search and rescue operations since Tuesday afternoon, the task was hampered by continuous rain and snowfall. "We were involved in searching for the missing people until 9.30 pm yesterday. A team has been deputed since the morning today as well," he said. According to him, the people who had gone to collect yarsagumba were camping in tents.”

Secretary at the Vice President’s Office Tek Narayan Pandey has been arrested. He was apprehended for his alleged involvement in defrauding people on the pretext of sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. Police said that they arrested Pandey for questioning after those detained in the same case mentioned his name during the interrogation. According to a preliminary investigation of police, Pandey was found involved in making fake Bhutanese refugees when he was the home secretary. He is accused of colluding with a racket involved in defrauding people of millions of rupees on the pretext of sending them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees. Earlier on Tuesday, police nabbed Indrajit Rai, security advisor of former Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, in connection with the same case.  

A sharp slowdown in economic activities, slackened domestic demand, tighter monetary policy, and persistent global headwinds have adversely affected Nepal's economy in the current fiscal year. Making public the National Account Statistics on Tuesday, the National Statistics Office (NSO) estimated that Nepal’s economy would grow by 2.16 percent in the current fiscal year 2022/23. With an acute liquidity crunch, higher interest rates, rising inflation, and sluggish market demand, the country’s economy has been under pressure from the start of FY 2022/23. The economy grew by a meager 1.7 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. In its economic growth projection for the second quarter, NSO said the gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been negative by 1.1 percent. However, NSO has expected that economic growth will be positive by the last quarter of the current fiscal year. Similarly, Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be at Rs 5,381bn in FY 2022/23. Much lower than WB’s and ADB’s projections NSO’s GDP growth projection is much lower than what World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasted a month ago. Both WB and ADB have projected that Nepal’s economic growth would grow at 4.1 percent this year. On the other hand, the government set an ambitious growth rate target of eight percent in the budget of the current fiscal year. The per capita income growth of Nepalis has stagnated this year as the NSO estimated that per capita GDP will remain unchanged from last year’s $1399. Per capita income means an average income of a person in a year. The average per capita income of Nepalis increased by $122 in the last fiscal year. Economist Dr Biswas Gauchan has termed the NSO projection as realistic. “Given the current state of our economy which is grappling with higher inflation, high interest rates, and liquidity crunch, the growth projection is realistic,” said Gauchan. “However, for a developing country like Nepal, this growth rate cannot be termed as satisfactory.” Contraction in major sectors This year, the slump in the construction, mining, transport, manufacturing, and wholesale and retail trade sectors dragged the overall economic growth. The NSO has projected that the mining sector will grow by a meager 1.11 percent in FY 2022/23 compared to a growth of 8.84 percent in FY 2021/22. The construction sector which grew by 7.08 percent in the last fiscal year, is expected to remain negative by 2.62 percent in this fiscal year. Similarly, the wholesale and retail trade's growth has been projected to be negative by 2.96 percent in this fiscal compared to growth of 7.46 percent in the last fiscal. According to NSO, the growth of the manufacturing sector is likely to decelerate by 2.04 percent in FY 2022/23 due to higher interest rates, import restriction measures, and the slowdown in domestic consumption. Business community members have been saying that the mining and construction sectors have been going through a prolonged slump which has resulted in a sharp decline in the demand for cement, steel, and other construction materials. The demand for cement, steel, sand, and other construction materials has decreased with construction activities in the country coming to a halt. The NSO has stated that the electricity and accommodation (hospitality) sectors will have the highest growth in FY 2022/23. According to the projection, the electricity sector will grow by 19.36 percent while accommodation will grow by 18.56 percent. A gradual recovery in the tourism sector with a surge in tourist arrival has helped the hospitality sector. Ramprasad Thapaliya, Chief of NSO said that the contraction in economic activities has affected the country’s economic growth. “The National Account Statistics will help the federal government to prepare the budget for the next fiscal year,” he said, “We have made public the real state of the economy, based on which the government can bring the necessary policy interventions through the next budget.”