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As the government is struggling to manage resources in the wake of the economic downturn in the country, the ceiling of the funds that will be allocated in the next fiscal year's budget for the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) has been reduced. The budget ceiling of MoPIT, the ministry responsible for infrastructure development in the country, has been decreased by Rs 54 billion. The ministry's annual budget for the current fiscal year is Rs 167 billion. However, it will be allocated only Rs 113 billion in the next fiscal year which is 32.33 percent lesser than this year. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala acknowledged that the budget ceiling of the ministry for the upcoming fiscal year has been reduced significantly. As the country grapples with the economic downturn that has affected the federal government's revenue collection, the Finance Ministry is likely to present a budget smaller in size for the next fiscal year. The government had brought a Rs 1,793.83 billion budget for the current fiscal year. However, the National Planning Commission (NPC) has set a ceiling of Rs 1688.40 billion for the next fiscal year's budget. Minister Jwala said that despite the reduction in the budget ceiling, MoPIT is trying to allocate more resources under the capital expenditure heading. "Due to the difficult situation, the size of our ministry's budget has decreased. This may affect the development and construction work," he said in a program held at the ministry on Tuesday. "We will try to earmark more funds for the capital expenditure by cutting unnecessary recurrent expenditure as well as by prioritizing the projects." With a reduction in the budget size, the possibility of announcing new infrastructure projects in the next federal budget is slim. MoPIT officials also said works of the projects that are already under construction may also be affected. As the majority of large infrastructure projects fail to complete their construction within the deadline, the ministry is also planning to make a policy intervention to speed up the development of the projects. "There will be policy arrangements in place to improve coordination between inter-ministries, inter-agency, all three levels of government, and other agencies," said Jwala. The poor inter-agency coordination, particularly in acquisition of lands and forest clearance, has hampered the large infrastructure development projects related to hydropower and roads.  

At a time when the government is drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, facing difficulties to pay pensions and salaries to civil service employees, the demand for reviving the highly controversial Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program, popularly known as the 'constituency development fund' has surfaced again. The lawmakers of the ruling Nepali Congress during a parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday urged Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Saran Mahat to include the program in the upcoming federal budget. Most of the Nepali Congress lawmakers who spoke in the discussion with the finance minister urged that the program should be revived. The lawmakers argued that 'it was difficult for the federal parliamentarians to reach out to the people of their respective constituencies as there was no development budget for them'. They said there is a need to revive the program in the upcoming budget to 'connect with the people'. In response, Dr. Mahat did not commit to fulfilling their demand and briefed the lawmakers about the country's economic situation stating that it has become challenging to raise the necessary resources for the budget. Earlier run as two separate programs— the Constituency Infrastructure Special Program and the Constituency Development Program, the Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program has faced widespread criticism for being distributive as well as for the alleged misuse of the funds. As the program gives discretionary authority to lawmakers to utilize the funds to run development programs in their constituencies, there were many instances in the past when the projects under the program were largely run by the local consumer committees close to the political party cadres. Under the program, the government in the fiscal year 2020/21 had allocated Rs 40 million for each constituency. The program is implemented through the local governments with the joint funding of federal and local government resources. The federal government stopped resources for projects under the program in July 2020 after deciding to invest the unused funds under the program for the Covid-19 response. However, in 2021, the then KP Sharma Oli government decided to release the budget despite widespread concerns over possible misuse of funds. Following criticisms from all quarters of the society, the then Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada in the federal budget of FY 2020/21 reduced the resources for the program. The funds for each constituency were reduced to Rs 40 million from earlier Rs 60 million. The federal government in FY 2020/21 had allocated Rs 6.60 billion for the program, down from Rs 9.90 billion in FY 2019/20. The controversial program was scrapped by the then Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel in the FY 2021/22 federal budget. According to NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak, lawmakers have given various suggestions to the finance minister for the upcoming budget during Tuesday's meeting. Finance Minister Mahat briefed the lawmakers about the principles, priorities, and bases of the next fiscal year's budget.

India witnessed a jump in the number of daily Covid-19 cases, recording 9,629 fresh cases of the infection in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday, India Today reported. According to the Health Ministry data, the death toll rose to 5,31,398 with 29 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours. Of the 29 deaths -- six were reported in Delhi, three each in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, two each in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and one each in Odisha, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Ten deaths were reconciled by Kerala. The number of active cases stood at 61,013. Active caseload comprises 0.14% of the total Covid-19 cases, according to India Today. The Health Ministry said that 11,967 people recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of people who have recuperated from the disease to 4,43,23,045. The national recovery rate stood at 98.68% while the case fatality rate was pegged at 1.18%.

The base rate of Nepali commercial banks declined in the third quarter of the current fiscal year as banks reduced their interest rates on deposits. The financial reports of commercial banks show the base rate has declined by 0.28 percentage points by mid-April, 2023. The average base rate of banks was 10.80 percent until mid-January which came down to 10.51 percent by mid-April. Banks started reducing interest rates on deposits in mid-January. As their cost of funds decreased, the base rate also decreased accordingly. Currently, the base rate is the main tool to determine bank interest rates on loans in Nepal. Banks have been determining the loan interest rate by adding a premium to the base rate. According to the latest decision of the Nepal Bankers' Association, banks can determine the interest rate by adding a maximum of 5 percent premium to the base rate. With the base rate starting to decline, borrowers may get loans at cheaper interest rates in the coming days. However, the possibility of a significant reduction in borrowing rates is unlikely at the moment as the base rate has declined marginally. Bankers say the base rate will decrease further by mid-July which will make lending rates cheaper. Banks have been calculating the base rate on a quarterly basis and the last quarter of the current fiscal year starts from Baisakh. This way, the effect of the interest rate cut in Baisakh will be seen in Shrawan (July-August). Among the 21 commercial banks, the base rate of the two banks increased in the third quarter. The base rate of Nepal SBI Bank has increased by 0.33 percent and Machhapuchhre Bank by 0.08 percent compared to the second quarter. The base rate of Nepal SBI, which was 10.75 percent till mid-December reached 11.08 percent in mid-April. Similarly, the base rate of Machhapuchhre climbed to 11.31 percent in mid-April from 11.23 percent in mid-December. As of mid-April, the base rate of five banks has come down to single digits. Among them, Rastriya Banijya Bank's base rate stood at 8.47 percent, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal's at 9.27 percent, Nepal Bank's at 9.92 percent, Everest Bank's at 9.94 percent and Nabil Bank's at 9.99 percent. Currently, Sunrise Bank's base rate is the highest among commercial banks. The bank's base rate stood at 11.34 percent in mid-April. As the base rate is higher, the interest rates on loans of Sunrise Bank are higher than other banks. Over the past year, interest rates on deposits kept on increasing due to a prolonged liquidity crunch. As banks' cost of funds increased due to a surge in deposit interest rates, the base rate also increased during this period ultimately making loans expensive for borrowers. The banks will also have to reduce the spread rate to 4 percent by the end of Ashad (mid-July) which is currently 4.4 percent. The Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed the banks to lower the spread rate to 4.2 percent by the end of Chaitra (mid-April) and 4 percent by the end of Ashad. As a result, bankers say that the lending rate will decrease.

A child died after being hit by a school bus in Jhapa on Tuesday. The deceased has been identified as two-and-half-year old Chindal Subedi, daughter of Pawal Subedi of Kamal Rural Municipality-2, the District Police Office, Jhapa said. Police said that the bus (Me 1 Ka 407) belonging to the Nawadaya Secondary School hit her at Bhutlung in Kamal-2 at around 4 pm yesterday. Critically injured in the incident, Subedi breathed her last during the course of treatment at the Medimax Hospital in Gauradaha. Police said that they have impounded the bus and arrested its driver Durga Bahadur Kunwar (39) for investigation.  

The price of gold has increased by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 109, 700 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 200 per tola. It was traded at Rs 109, 000. Similarly, the silver of silver has dropped by Rs 500 and is being traded at Rs 1,415 per tola today.

Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav has been elected as the member of the House of Representatives from Bara-2 on Wednesday. He defeated his closest contender Shiva Chandra Kushwaha of the Janamat Party by a margin of 5, 081 votes. Yadav secured 28, 415 votes while Kushwaha garnered 23, 334 votes. Similarly, Purushottam Paudel of the CPN-UML received 10, 216 votes and Ramesh Kharel of the Rastriya Swatantra Party obtained 2, 829 votes. Chief Election Officer Mukesh Upadhyay handed over the certificate to newly elected lawmaker Yadav at 1:45 am. Chief Minister Saroj Yadav and Chief District Officer Nawaraj Sapkota among others were present in the program. Yadav was defeated by CK Raut, Chairman of Janamat Party, in the Saptari-2 in the election to the Member of House of Representatives held on November 20, 2022. The HoR seat from Bara constituency 2 had fallen vacant after Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav of JSP was elected to the post of Vice President.  

Nepal Teen Leaders (NTL) has opened the form for its fifth batch. NTL is an exclusive student-centric year-long program designed for teenage students, aims to hone them into smart, talented, and creative individuals. The goal of the program is to ensure the students have bright futures. NTL, which was started in 2018, is an initiation of Career Point Education Services Pvt Ltd, an educational consultancy for higher studies. From choosing the right career to developing their personalities and improving their social skills, NTL focuses on many different aspects of career-building. Additionally, the program brings in experts from different fields under whose mentorship or guidance the students get to learn.To be eligible for the program, the candidates must have cleared grade 11 or equivalent level and should show an avid interest in working on pressing social issues.