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The price of gold has increased by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 102, 800 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 102, 300 per tola on Friday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 300 per tola. It was traded at Rs 102, 000 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1,275 per tola today.

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided to give a vote of confidence to Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah following the directive of party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. A Parliamentary Party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) held on Sunday morning decided to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister Shah. Talking to journalists after the meeting, CPN-UML Province Assembly member Om Bikram Bhat said that the meeting has decided to give a vote of trust to Chief Minister Shah. A Parliamentary Party meeting of the CPN-UML is underway to take a decision on whether to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister Shah or not. The Nagarik Unmukti Party has not made any decision to give a vote of trust to Chief Minister Shah. Earlier on Saturday, Unmukti Party Chairperson Ranjita Shrestha had said that a trust vote cannot be given without a written agreement. Shah is taking a vote of confidence today. A Parliamentary meeting has been called at 1 pm today to seek a vote of confidence.  

Two persons died and nine others were injured when a Bolero jeep fell off a cliff at Chisankhugadhi in Okhaldhunga on Sunday. The District Police Office, Okhaldhunga said that the four-wheeler carrying 11 persons was heading towards the district headquarters from Chapakot of Chisankhugadhi Rural Municipality-3 when the incident occurred this morning. The deceased have been identified as Min Bahadur Shrestha and Bhakta Bahadur Thapa. Preparations are being made to bring the injured to Kathmandu by a Nepal Army helicopter. Police said that they are looking into the case.  

The Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering has pointed out several deficiencies of Nepal to comply with the standards on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT). This may lead to the 'graylisting' of Nepal by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog, a senior government official said. After concluding the field visit to Nepal in December last year as part of the mutual evaluation of Nepal’s compliance in December, the APG has prepared a report and shared it with Nepal. According to the government official who has seen the report, there are two types of non-compliances that the report has pointed out—legislation-related and implementation and supervision-related. The APG report has indicated the biggest weakness of Nepal in the enforcement of the laws. “The report has shown deficiencies in taking legal action against big fishes of corruption and other illegal activities,” the official said, adding, “It has also shown weakness in taking action against reporting entities, which are failing to comply with anti-money laundering measures.” APG presented its initial report to Nepal this month to seek the government's opinion on its assessment of Nepal’s degree of compliance with anti-money laundering standards. “It may take a week or so to send the reply,” the official said. In fact, most of the deficiencies related to the legislation pointed out by the APG are the same that the government itself had admitted. In order to plug the loopholes in the laws, an amendment bill covering various laws was registered in the previous parliament. Even though the erstwhile House of Representatives had endorsed the bill, it failed to send the law to the National Assembly which resulted in vacating the entire process. The government of Nepal has identified 15 laws that need to be amended to make them compatible with the FATF anti-money laundering standards. Some of the major laws that need amendment are the Assets Laundering Prevention Act 2008, Securities Act 2007, Human Trafficking, and Transportation (Control) Act 2008, Confiscation of Criminal Proceeds Act 2014, Land Revenue Act 1978, Tourism Act 1978, Mutual Legal Assistance Act 2014, Organized Crimes Prevention Act 2014, Criminal (Code) Act 2017 and Cooperative Act 2017. The previous government under Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had even forwarded an ordinance covering amendment proposals on these laws to President Bidya Devi Bhandari, but the latter didn’t authenticate it. The government formed after the November 20, 2022 parliamentary elections has again registered the Some Nepal Acts Amendment Bill to address these deficiencies. “If the new bill is passed, around 80 percent of deficiencies pointed out by the APG with regard to the legislation will be addressed,” said the official. “It will still not address the concerns related to real estate and extraditions.” According to the official, there should be a political consensus on addressing extradition-related issues. A face-to-face interaction is expected in April before the APG prepares its final report. The report will then go to the APG plenary, which will determine whether Nepal will be under the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) monitoring of the FATF. “There is still hope for Nepal if the parliament passes the registered bill,” said the official. “There will be room for improvement in the enforcement of laws as well to prevent graylisting.” According to the International Monetary Fund, the consequences of ‘graylist’ is a possible future blacklisting and loss of correspondent banking with many of the world’s major banks. Correspondent banking refers to agreements between banks to provide payment services for each other. After being on the ‘graylist’ in 2008, Nepal was close to being placed on the blacklist in 2012. This forced the country to introduce new laws, regulations, procedures, and a dedicated investigation unit, which helped Nepal to be delisted from the FATF ‘graylist’ in 2014.

The capacity utilization of industrial enterprises in Nepal stood at 61.53 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2022/23. According to the Industry Status Report published by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), capacity utilization of the service industry declined in the first quarter while that of the manufacturing industry increased. As per the CNI report, the service industry's capacity utilization stood at 78.9 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal year compared to 81.66 percent in the final quarter of the last fiscal year 2021/22. The manufacturing industry fared marginally better in the review period with capacity utilization of 53.63 percent compared to 47.54 percent in the last quarter of FY 2021/22. The acute shortage of liquidity in the financial system, rising interest rates, and the slowdown in demand have hit the revenue of the industries, according to CNI. The across-industry-average revenue growth was negative by 10.63 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal. The average revenue growth in the last quarter of the last fiscal was 10.97 percent. "The revenue generation has shrunk sharply in the first quarter of FY 2022/23," states the report. The CNI report shows that 45.06 percent of working capital was met through credit from banks and financial institutions in the first quarter of FY 2022/23. "With the implementation of the Working Capital Loan Guideline, 2079, the drawing power of enterprises for working capital has been limited. This can bring unforeseen challenges to operate businesses, particularly for manufacturing companies," says the report. As per the report the average interest rate on bank loans stood at 12.75 percent in the review period. The report says the average interest rate on loans increased by one percentage point in the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the last quarter of the last fiscal year. According to CNI, the average share of imported raw materials by the manufacturing industry in the review period stood at 51.98%. Similarly, CNI has highlighted that getting a reliable power supply is still a major issue for industries in the country. According to the report, 56.25 percent of the industries still use generators as the electricity supply is not reliable. Industrialists say that the electricity provided by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is from a common feeder for an area which reduces the reliability so a separate feeder is essential for commercial purposes. Those manufacturing industries using generators as alternative sources of energy stated that an additional 18.43 percent cost has increased due to the use of generators. According to CNI, the report was prepared based on a survey of 45 industries belonging to manufacturing, financial, trade, communication, IT and agriculture.

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Nepal may require an additional Rs 5 billion to complete its projects due to an increase in estimated costs. Nepal signed the MCC Compact in 2017, and the compact is set to be implemented from this September. “The implementation phase is beginning six years after the compact was signed. Factors such as inflation may contribute to the funding shortfall,” said Khadga Bisht, the executive director of MCA Nepal. Nepal was selected for the MCC compact in 2011. It, however, took six years to sign the compact. The compact was signed in Washington DC by Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, the then-Minister for Finance, and Jonathan Nash, MCC's Acting CEO, on September 14, 2017. The agreement was ratified by the parliament on February 27, 2022. As part of the MCC, Nepal is receiving $500 million, or around Rs 60 billion, to implement transmission line and road rehabilitation projects. "All vendors for these projects will have to be paid in US dollars, and prices have increased over the past six years. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has increased inflation further. Due to these factors, we estimate that the projects will face a shortfall of funds," added Bisht. After the compact was ratified by the parliament, MCA Nepal started implementing several preparatory works. Of the six pre-conditions for the projects, five have been fulfilled, while work is still underway to fulfill the sixth. According to Bisht, works such as the design and demarcation of transmission lines, preparation of environmental impact assessment (EIA), and the maintenance of a database of affected areas are currently underway. Land acquisition is currently underway in six out of the 10 districts that will be affected by the projects. These include Nawalpur, Chitwan, Palpa, Dhading, Tanahun, and Nawalparasi. Similarly, preparations are underway to begin land acquisition works in Nuwakot and Makwanpur. After that, MCA Nepal plans to begin acquisition works in Sindhupalchowk and Kathmandu districts. "We will have a better idea of the integrated cost once all land acquisition works are completed. Only then will we be able to determine how much additional funding will be needed for the project," Bisht explained. According to the EIA report, as many as 743 towers will need to be erected for the 315-kilometer transmission line. This will require felling of 200,200 trees in forests covering an area of 7,000 ropanis. MCA Nepal has announced plans to plant one tree for every tree felled as part of the project. However, the government has stated that 10 trees should be planted for every tree cut down. Bisht stated that they will finalize the number of trees to be planted very soon. MCA Nepal plans to begin tree marking work in April and complete it by June. As part of the transmission line project, MCA Nepal will build three 400 kV gas insulated substations in Ratamate of Nuwakot, Damauli of Tanahu, and Bhumahi in Nawalparasi. Additionally, the Lapsiphedi-Hetauda transmission line will be connected to Nepal Electricity Authority's existing substation in Hetauda. MCA Nepal estimates that approximately Rs 7 billion will be required for land acquisition. Thus far, it has spent around Rs 1.4 billion for the acquisition of around 400 ropanis of land for the Ratamate sub-station in Nuwakot. MCA Nepal has already invited tenders to select contractors and consultants for the project. Additionally, it plans to invite tenders to build substations in the near future. Bisht stated that MCA Nepal plans to sign agreements with the selected contractor and consultant in September. The five-year MCC clock will begin ticking from that date. Similarly, preparations for the road component of the compact have also begun. MCA Nepal will use the compact to upgrade 77 kilometers of the East-West Highway from Dang. For the first time in Nepal, MCA Nepal is introducing new technologies like full-depth reclamation and superior performing asphalt pavement (SuperPave). To facilitate the adoption of these technologies, six laboratories have already been set up at the Department of Roads. According to MCA Nepal, the design for the road has already been prepared. Likewise, MCA Nepal will also conduct regular maintenance on another 100 kilometers of road on the East-West Highway. Although the road section for maintenance has not been selected, Bisht stated that the Department of Roads could select the Mugling-Narayanghat road section.  

The construction of the diversion tunnel of the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) run-of-the-river hydroelectric project in Rasuwa District has been completed. The UT-1 is the largest hydroelectric project under construction with foreign direct investment in Nepal. The project in a press statement informed that a full concrete lining diversion tunnel with a length of 420 meters and diameter of five meters diameter has been successfully constructed. "The Trishuli river has been diverted via a diversion tunnel on Feb 28 to commence the construction activities of the head works," reads the statement. According to Tae Hak Yoon, CEO of Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC), river diversion is a significant achievement in the development of UT-1. The project has completed a 4.5 km excavation of the 13.5 km tunnel, which includes the headrace, adit, and tailrace tunnel. The excavation work of the underground powerhouse has advanced by 21 percent, and the overall progress rate of the Project is 14 percent. The developer of the project plans to complete the construction within December 2026. The project's main construction started in January 2022 and is estimated to complete in December 2026. According to the statement, approximately 700 workers work at the construction site, including 300 local residents from Project affected Rasuwa district. The Korean firm Doosan Eneribility is the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. UT-1 is expected to generate up to 1,533 GWh of electricity annually. Out of the total annual energy generated by the project, 38.75 percent will be generated during the dry season, which is higher than most of the other run-of-the-river hydropower projects in Nepal, thus contributing vastly to managing the dry season electricity shortfall. The project is considered attractive for the country's power system as it is close to the Kathmandu Load Center and will get 104 MW of electricity even in the dry season with high electricity demand. The generated energy will flow to the national grid by connecting it to the Trishuli-3B hub substation that the Nepal Electricity Authority is constructing currently. The USD 647.34 million project is financed through 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity. The project partners will provide an equity investment of USD 194.20 million. The credit oF USD 453.12 million is being provided by a group of international lenders, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Korean Exim Bank (K-EXIM), Korean Development Bank (KDB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), FMO (The Netherlands), the British International Investment (BII), Proparco (France), and the OPEC fund for International Development (OFID). The shareholders of NWEDC include Korea South-East Power Company Limited, Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation, International Finance Corporation, and a local Nepali partner.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 100 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 102, 500 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 102, 600 per tola on Sunday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 000 per tola. It was traded at Rs 102, 100. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,265 per tola today.