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CPN-UML leaders held a meeting with CPN (Unified Socialist) party Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal at the latter’s party office in Aloknagar on Thursday to discuss the presidential election. Presidential candidate UML Vice-Chairman Subash Nembang, Vice-Chairman Bishnu Paudel, Deputy General Secretary Prithvi Subba Gurung, Raghubir Mahaseth and Bimala Rai had reached CPN (US)'s party office this morning to meeting Nepal. On the occasion, UML leaders urged Nepal to support Nembang in the presidential election. CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal, Vice-Chairman Prakash Hamal, General Secretary Beduram Bhusal and Deputy General Secretary Prakash Jwala among others were present in the meeting. The presidential election is scheduled for March 9. Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel from the new alliance and UML Vice-Chairman Subash Nembang have filed their nominations for the election. The CPN (Unified Socialist), however, has decided to support Congress leader Paudel in the presidential election.  

The Koshi Province government has announced a public holiday in the province on Thursday to celebrate the naming of the province. The Internal Affairs and Law Ministry on the recommendation of the Cabinet meeting decided to grant a public holiday today. A meeting of the Province Assembly held on Wednesday decided to name Province 1 as Koshi Province. The name proposed by the CPN-UML was endorsed by a majority. Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), and Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmakers voted in the favour of the proposal to name Province 1 as Koshi Province. Earlier, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Janata Samajbadi Party had demanded that the province be named Kirat-Limbuwan-Sagarmatha.

With the Covid-19 pandemic no longer being considered a major health concern at the moment, government spending on the control and prevention of the disease has slumped this fiscal year. During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the government spent Rs 700,000 for the prevention, control, and treatment of Covid-19, according to the mid-term review of the budget of the current fiscal year. The government had allocated Rs 15.47bn for the purpose in FY 2022/23. “Even though there has not been fresh spending from the dedicated budget for Covid-19, many activities are underway against Covid-19 through the regular health budget too,” said a senior official of the Department of Health Services. “Nevertheless, low spending of dedicated budget shows that Covid-19 is more or less under control. But it has not been eliminated yet.” Even though the government spent a lot of money on purchasing vaccines last fiscal year, it is now receiving the Covid vaccines free of cost under COVAX, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid vaccines. According to the report, the government had spent Rs 22.21bn for the purpose in the last FY 2021/22 against the allocation of Rs 38.96bn. Spending in the fiscal year 2020/21 was Rs 12.56bn while it was Rs 2.6bn in FY 2019/20 when the pandemic began. The country spent a total of Rs 37.38bn for controlling Covid since the beginning. This spending however does not cover spending for social safety and welfare and economic recovery programs. The country spent even more on social safety and welfare and economic recovery to address the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance, the government had spent Rs 72.93bn for health care, social safety, and economic recovery programs by mid-January 2022. Only Rs 30.35bn was spent on health care related to Covid while the rest of the amount was spent on social safety and economic recovery, according to the Program Completion Report of the Covid-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program. As a result of the pandemic, the country’s economy suffered a negative growth of over two percent in FY 2020/21. Official statistics show more than 12,000 people have lost their lives in Nepal due to the pandemic.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 300 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 102, 600 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 102, 300 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 100 per tola. It was traded at Rs 101, 800 per tola. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,270 per tola today.

The government and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement on policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. Nepal will receive USD 52m as the second tranche of the ECF once the IMF executive board approves the agreement. Nepal was expecting to receive the second installment in May 2022, but the Washington DC-based lender delayed the tranche of USD 395.9m in loan to Nepal till February 2023, stating that the country is yet to fulfill the obligations. The IMF approved the USD 395.9m ECF for Nepal in January 2022 of which the Himalayan nation has already received the first installment of USD 110m. According to the IMF, despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported programs. "Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors—in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both Covid-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System," IMF said in a press statement. IMF further said Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. "The much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of Covid support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war," said the statement. The monetary policy tightening last year helped stabilize the external economy and is contributing to lower inflation, while the recent mid-year budget review is expected to address near-term fiscal risks stemming from lower-than-expected revenue growth. The IMF has highlighted that sustainable medium-term growth will require fiscal reforms in line with debt sustainability, advancing reforms on banking regulations and supervision, reducing the cost of doing business and barriers to FDI, and enhancing governance. The multilateral agency has pointed out that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage. "Discussions recognized the need for the Nepal Rastra Bank to ensure appropriate reclassification of loans and close monitoring of the impact of a potential deterioration in the repayment capacity of borrowers," said the IMF. The IMF has projected Nepal's GDP growth in FY 2022/23 to be 4.4 percent. However, Nepal remains vulnerable to international shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability. Hence, the IMF has suggested a cautious monetary policy is appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves. "Monetary policy should focus on maintaining a cautious and data-driven stance supported by macroprudential measures. This will help avoid large boom-bust credit cycles, which can create financial sector instability and are not supportive of sustainable growth," reads the statement. During the meeting, Nepali officials and IMF staff agreed that priority should be given to achieving a fiscal deficit that ensures debt sustainability while securing additional concessional financing and enhancing debt management. There were discussions on the need for Nepal to adopt an ambitious structural reform agenda to help establish a sustainable and inclusive long-term growth path. According to the IMF, reducing the cost of doing business and barriers to FDI would support growth potential, especially in sectors such as high-value agricultural products, information technology, energy, and tourism. "Reforms to develop financial instruments tailored to migrant workers, promoting better access to finance, and improving financial literacy can enhance financial inclusion," said IMF. Nepali officials expressed commitment to the policies and reforms envisaged in the ECF-supported program, in particular, formulating a comprehensive revenue mobilization strategy, aimed at enhancing tax collection and making room for priority spending, strengthening the management of fiscal risks, especially those arising from public enterprises, by developing systems for their prompt identification and monitoring, improving efficiency and transparency of public investment spending; continuing to advance reforms on banking regulations and supervision and ensuring bank asset quality and further strengthening NRB’s governance by amending the NRB Act in line with best international practices. Nepali officials also expressed the government's readiness to implement recommendations from the ongoing AML/CFT Mutual Evaluation conducted by the Asia/Pacific Group. The IMF staff mission led by Jarkko Turunen arrived in Nepal on February 15 and stayed in Kathmandu for almost two weeks for a comprehensive review.  

Rape-accused cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane has left for the UAE to play ICC World Cup Cricket League 2 on Wednesday. Lamichhane will replace Shyam Dhakal (Mausam) of the Nepali team as he got injured during the practice session, the Nepal Cricket Association (CAN) said. The CAN sent Lamichhane to the UAE after the Supreme Court allowed him to go abroad.      

Three persons have been arrested in possession of gold ornaments worth over Rs 10 million in the wee hours of Wednesday. The suspects have been identified as Binod Prasad (42) of Phephana Thapa, Baliya district, Uttar Pradesh, Ganapat Kumar Tosawar (51) and Naresh Burma (42) of Salkiya School Road Kalkatta, Golawadi Police Thana, Hauda district, West Bengal. The District Police Office said that the trio were nabbed with 63. 898 gold ornaments and 22. 878 tola diamond ornaments worth Rs 10. 1 million. SP Rameshwor Karki of the District Police Office, Chitwan said that the ornaments were confiscated from the Tata Nexon bearing Indian registration number plate WB 12 AV 5566 during a regular security check at around 1 am today. The District Police Office, Chitwan has made public the detainees by organizing a press conference this afternoon. SP Karki said that they have been handed over to the Revenue Investigation Office in Pathlaiya. DSP Bijay Raj Pandit, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Chitwan, said that they are looking into the case.      

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 24. 44 points to close at 1,995.49 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 3. 56 points to close at 378. 37 points. A total of 3,729,976 unit shares of 257 companies were traded for Rs 1. 28 billion. Meanwhile, Adarsha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Bottlers Nepal Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 61 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 88 trillion.