Submit your Article

What is the main task of a parliament? Here, we are not talking about an assembly of some nocturnal creatures. We are talking about an organ of the state consisting of elected representatives of the people. We are talking about a sovereign body that represents the will of the people expressed through adult franchise. Worldwide, parliaments worth their names do one major thing. They make laws. But Nepal’s parliament is emerging as an exception. For years, a chronic disease has been ailing the parliament, preventing it from functioning properly. Crucial Bills getting nowhere attest to this sorry state of affairs. The Truth and Reconciliation Bill is a case in point and so is the Anti-money Laundering Bill. The failure to get the TRC Bill through the parliament is tantamount to denying justice for the victims of the decade-long insurgency. It does not enhance Nepal’s image in international fora like the United Nations. There is another cause for alarm also. Recent reports suggest that Nepal faces graylisting for failing to introduce and enforce laws against money-laundering. At a time when the national economy is not in the pink of health, the government should have presented this crucial Bill without further delay as graylisting will hit Nepal’s domestic and international business transactions hard. The presidential election, the upcoming vice-presidential vote, the vote of confidence and the ongoing dispute over the opposition party have consumed much of our lawmakers’ energies. It is the responsibility of a government to give business to the parliament. The government should wake up to this responsibility and work in close coordination with political parties across the aisle for the passage of crucial Bills and a smooth functioning of the parliament. Otherwise, there are chances of a relapse into the Ordinance Raaj where governments used to rule through ordinances after failing to have their way in the parliament. This time, chances are that such a rule may not be a smooth sailing, given the international outcry against TRC Bill and Anti-Money Laundering Bill. The government and the parliament should wake up and act before it’s too late.  

After the import control measures led to a big slump in revenue collection, the government first lifted the over seven-month ban on the imports of automobiles, liquors, and expensive mobile sets effective from mid-December last year. Then, on January 20, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) annulled the nearly year-long provision of cash margin of up to 100 percent in the banks to open letters of credit (LCs) for the imports of around 300 goods. However, the decisions of the government and NRB to roll back their previous steps, which were introduced a year ago to tackle the worsening problems in the external sector of the economy have not been fruitful for the government in terms of meeting the revenue targets. According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government’s revenue collection continues to remain dismal totaling Rs 584.29bn as of mid-March, 2023 compared to Rs 688.38bn in the same period of the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collected so far is not enough even to cover the recurrent expenditure of the government which stands at Rs 610.21bn as of mid-March, 2023. The Department of Customs (DoC) and Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the major agencies of the country's tax regime, have reported dismal revenue figures as of March 15 of the current fiscal year. According to DoC, it collected Rs 250bn, which is 58 percent of the target of Rs 433bn. “The impact of the policy reversal on import control has not been reflected in the customs revenue,” a senior DoC official said.  The country receives nearly half of its revenue through taxing imported goods. Import taxes on vehicles are among the largest sources of revenue. But even after the government lifted the import ban, automobile dealers have not rushed to import the vehicles.  In fact,  the automobile dealers have not yet cleared around 2,800 four-wheelers parked at Birgunj and other customs yards of the country, according to the customs officials. The vehicles were imported in recent months based on LCs opened before the import restrictions were imposed in April last year. “We have long been asking the auto dealers to get them cleared but they have refused to do so, complaining about the non-availability of loans in the automobile sector,” the official said. In FY 2021/22, the government collected revenue of Rs 66.30bn from the imports of four and two-wheelers,  DoC data shows. The story is the same with the inland revenue collection. According to IRD,  the revenue collection as of mid-March of this fiscal year stood at 79.68 percent of the target. A total of Rs 281.99bn has been collected by IRD as of mid-March against the target of Rs 353.91bn. The department had raised Rs 284.88bn in revenue during the same period of the last fiscal year. In late January, the government decided to reduce administrative expenditure by 20 percent. Subsequently, the government trimmed its expenditure plan (budget) for the current fiscal year 2022/23 by 13.59 percent through the mid-term review of the budget. This translates to a reduction of a staggering Rs 243.83bn in the budget for FY 2022/23. The revised budget now amounts to Rs 1,549.99bn. On May 29,  former finance minister Janardan Sharma had presented a budget of Rs 1,793.83bn with an ambitious 8 percent economic growth target. But during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the economy grew by just 0.8 percent. Industrialists and businesspersons say the demand for goods and services has slumped as the economy is facing several problems currently. According to revenue administration officials, meeting the revenue targets is difficult because of the macroeconomic headwinds.

At the time when many Nepali films are being shot in foreign lands, Nepal’s own natural beauty and rich cultural heritage have been attracting many foreign film and documentary makers to do their shooting here. Not only that, various international television commercials (TVC) have also been shot in Nepal.  Recently VT 13 (Working Title), a Hindi movie, produced by Sony Pictures International and Renaissance Pictures has been filmed in the beautiful scene of Nepal. The film is directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, and is based on true events. It features Varun Tej and Manushi Chhillar in the lead role. The film was shot from March 3 to 9 in the Langtang Valley, Sindhupalchowk Jugal Mountain and periphery.  For the first time ever, A Shotover F1 6 Axis  Gyro Stabilized Camera System was used to get immense shots of the mountains and valleys for the film. The system uses IMU and Brain to analyze all the vibrations, oscillations and bumps and correct all of them using heavy duty motors and magnets.  The Shotover F1 enables broadcasters and filmmakers to achieve super stable shots even at a speed of 300 kmph. VT13 being a movie based on fighter jets and high speed action, usage of these types of camera systems has proven to be extremely important for achieving dynamic shots.  The Shotover was operated by trained and experienced Indian cinematographer Shaikat Chakraborty. He has years of camera experience across India and abroad in most hostile environments. The Visual Effects Supervisor of the film is Durga Prasad Ketha who has been working in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi feature films for over 22 years.  The Line Producer of the film is Phurba Sherpa. He is record holder producer and director and has worked in many international projects for CNN, National Geographic and ABC among others. 

Nepal have secured a berth at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 after defeating the UAE by Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method in their final match of the triangular series of the World Cup League 2 on Thursday. In the match stopped in the 44 overs due to bad light, Nepal scored two runs more than the target of 267 runs in the DL method. Kushal Bhurtel scored 50 runs off 35 balls smashing three boundaries and four sixes to lead Nepal to a nine-run victory. Similarly, Bhim Karki made 67 runs off 76 balls hitting nine boundaries and Arif Sheikh played an important innings of 52 runs off 62 balls. Likewise, Gulsan Jha and Dipendra Singh Airee scored unbeaten 50 and 10 runs respectively. Junaid Siddique took three wickets for the UAE while Aayan Afzal Khan and Jahur Khan claimed two and one wickets respectively. In the match played at the TU cricket ground, the UAE scored 310 runs at the cost of six wickets. Asif Khan, who came in number five, scored an unbeaten century off 41 balls smashing 11 sixes and four boundaries for the UAE. Similarly, Vriitya Aravind contributed 94 runs off 38 balls hitting two sixed and eight fours. Earlier, skipper Muhammed Waseem returned to the pavilion scoring 63 runs off 49 balls with six sixes and two boundaries. For Nepal, Dipendra Singh Airee took two wickets. Likewise, Lalit Rajbansi, Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane claimed one wicket each. With the win, Nepal, who finished third in the league, secured a place at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 to be held in Zimbabwe. Scotland have already become the League 2 Champion while Oman became the second. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal congratulated the Nepali team for being able to secure a berth at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.  

The Free Student Union (FSU) election will be held in Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus on March 23. Making public the election calendar again, the Free Student Union Election Committee fixed the date of March 23 for the election in the Ghantaghar-based campus. The election calendar was affected in the Tri Chandra Campus due to a dispute over the admission of the students. In the notice issued by election officer Rajendra Gautam, voters list will be published on Friday. Candidates can file nominations on Sunday. The voting will be held from 8 am to 4 pm on Thursday. Students had staged a demonstration by placing the chair and name plate of Campus Chief Prof Dr Sunil Adhikari by taking the issue of election process in the Tri Chandra Campus. The FSU election is going to be held in all the campuses across the country on March 19.  

With revenue collection continuing to remain poor, the mismatch between government expenditure and income has widened further. Data show the government treasury is in deficit by Rs 156 billion by mid-March 2023. According to the latest statistics of the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government's expenditure has reached Rs 779.23 billion by mid-March while the income totaled Rs 622.78 billion. The government has been able to meet only 42.7 percent of the revenue target during the eight months of the current fiscal year while the total expenditure has reached 43.44 percent of the annual target. The dramatic decline in revenue forced the government to trim the federal budget of Rs 1.793 trillion by 14 percent to Rs 1.549 trillion through the mid-term review of the budget. While the recurrent expenditure has increased, development expenditure has remained dismal as before. FCGO data shows that by mid-March, government recurrent expenditure stood at 51.4 percent, capital expenditure at 22.1 percent, and fiscal management at 37.4 percent. The non-improvement in revenue collection has been a worrying factor for the government which is struggling to meet the expenses. In the eight months of the current fiscal year, revenue collection totaled Rs 582.77 billion, of which Rs 526.47 billion is tax revenue and Rs 56.29 is non-tax revenue. The decline in imports has hit the revenue collection hard. According to the Department of Customs (DoC), revenue from imports has declined by 25 percent in the eight months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of the last fiscal year. DoC collected revenue worth Rs 250.64 billion till mid-March, which was Rs 333 billion a year ago. The country's total imports have declined by 18 percent in the review period. Nepal has imported goods worth Rs 1,057 billion in the eight months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 1,308 billion during the same period of FY 2021/22.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 5. 32 points to close at 1,933.31 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 5. 32 points to close at 1,933. 30 points. A total of 3,402,267 unit shares of 258 companies were traded for Rs 1. 14 billion. Meanwhile, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited and Shuvam Power Limited were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 76 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 79 trillion.

At a time when microfinance institutions (MFIs) are grappling with multiple problems, the surge in non-performing loans (NPL) has emerged as a major issue for MFIs. A new report of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows NPLs of MFIs, both wholesale and retail lenders, have increased in the first half of the current fiscal year. According to the report, the NPLs of wholesale lenders have increased to 0.87 percent while those in retail lending have seen their NPLs increase to 4.68 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The NPLs of retail MFIs have gone up by 82.62 percent during the review period while it is 112.19 percent for the wholesale MFIs. The NPLs of four MFIs operating as wholesale lenders have reached 0.87 percent in mid-January 2023 from 0.41 percent in mid-July 2022. Similarly, NPLs of retail MFIs have reached 4.68 percent in mid-January 2023 from 2.56 percent in mid-July 2022. Of the total 64 MFIs operating in Nepal, four are wholesale lending MFIs and the remaining are retail MFIs. The surge in NPL, according to MFIs' promoter is due to the non-recovery of loans. Loan recovery became complicated for MFIs as their primary lenders—micro and small enterprises— have been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic slowdown. "As MFIs provided loans arbitrarily, they have struggled to recover the loans which resulted in the rise in their NPLs," said Dr. Man BK, former secretary and a microfinance expert. Of late, MFIs have been embroiled in controversies with issues of multiple lending, and high-handedness adopted for loan recovery. There have been cases where borrowers either committed suicide or fled from their residences after failing to pay interest and principal amounts for the money they’ve borrowed from MFIs that have been charged with using coercive measures to recover the debts. Prakash Raj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association said that bad loans have increased due to the recent economic recession. In addition, he said, the recent movement against microfinance and the loan non-payment campaign has also increased NPLs. "Many borrowers of MFIs have been in a protest demanding their loans should be waived and many of them have not paid their loans," said Sharma, "As a result, NPLs have increased." The number of borrowers of MFIs has decreased in the first half of the current fiscal year. The new report released by NRB on 'Off-site Supervision Microfinance Finance' says the number of borrowers has decreased by 43,000 in the first six months of FY 2022/23. There were 3.3 million borrowers till mid-July 2022 which has come down to 3.26 million by mid-January 2023. According to the NRB report, the MFIs' borrowers started to decline from the start of the current fiscal year. While the borrowers' number has decreased, the total number of members of the MFIs increased by 2.19 percent in the first half of FY 2022/23.