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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared seven days of national mourning, and Syria has appealed to the United Nations for help following devastating earthquakes that killed more than 4,800 people and toppled buildings across southeast Turkey and northern Syria, Aljazeera reported. Authorities fear the death toll from Monday’s predawn magnitude 7.8 temblor, followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake and several aftershocks will continue to climb as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across a region already suffering under Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis. Rescuers searched through the frigid night into Tuesday morning, hoping to dig more survivors out of the rubble as those trapped cried out for help from beneath mountains of debris.

There has been a sharp decline in the profits of national-level development banks in the first six months of the current fiscal year 2022/23. According to the unaudited financial reports published by the banks for the second quarter, their net profit has decreased by an average of 20.90 percent. Currently, there are eight national-level development banks operating in Nepal. The second quarter reports of the banks show their profit stood at Rs 2.53 billion in the review period compared to Rs 3.20 billion during the same period of FY 2021/22. The net profit of the banks declined by Rs 669.3 million in this fiscal year which is much higher than that of commercial banks. The profit of 22 commercial banks decreased by 1.34 percent during the first half of the current fiscal. Among the development banks, Jyoti Bikas Bank has the highest profit decline in terms of percentage. The bank saw its profit plunge by 89.91 percent in this fiscal year. Jyoti Bikas earned a profit of Rs 34.7 million in this fiscal compared to Rs 344 million during the same period of the last fiscal. Similarly, Kamana Sewa Bikas Bank saw its profit decline by 43.01 percent during this period. The bank's profit reduced to 195.8 million in the first half of this fiscal compared to Rs 343.6 million in the same period of the last fiscal. Sangrila Development Bank's profit decreased by 36.4 percent. The bank's profit plunged to Rs 166.5 million in the first six months of the current fiscal year from Rs 261.8 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Similarly, the profit of Mahalakshmi Bikas Bank and Lumbini Bikas Bank decreased by 30.73 percent and 25.78 percent respectively. Profits of 3 development banks increase  The second quarter reports show profits of three national-level development banks surged in the first half of the current fiscal year. The net profit of Muktinath Bikas Bank increased by 3.91 percent, Garima Bikas Bank by 1.86 percent and Shine Resunga Development Bank by 23.15 percent. The net profit of Muktinath Bikas Bank stood at Rs 626.2 million in this fiscal compared to Rs 602.4 million in the last fiscal. Similarly, the profit of Garima Bikas Bank increased to Rs 502.1 million in this fiscal from Rs 492.9 million in the last fiscal. The profit of Shine Resunga increased to Rs 429.6 million this fiscal from Rs 348.83 million in the last fiscal. The decline in profits of development banks in the current fiscal year is attributed to the severe liquidity crunch and high-interest rates. As banks struggle to recover loan installments and interest, their profit took a beating. This resulted in an increase in non-performing loans for which development banks had to arrange additional money for loan-loss provisioning.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City demolished a police beat in Maitidevi on Tuesday. The KMC said that the police beat was bulldozed as part of the campaign to demolish illegal structures within the metropolis. The structure was built by encroaching upon the road. People had been facing difficulties in walking due to the building.

The eight-months long import restrictions have made quite an impact on the country's foreign trade. Official statistics show Nepal's imports declined by 20.68 percent and trade deficit by 19.15 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. While the import restrictions on vehicles, expensive mobile sets, and foreign liquors, helped the country to avert a looming forex reserves crisis, the government's revenue, which is import-centric, took a big beating in the first half of the current fiscal year. Nepal's imports have declined by 20.68 percent while exports slumped by 32.01 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. According to the latest foreign trade data released by the Department of Customs (DoC), the country's import bill stood at Rs 792.66 billion in the first half of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 999.34 billion during the same period of FY 2021/22. Similarly, the export bill stood at Rs 80.80 billion in the review period compared to Rs 118.85 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The country's overall foreign trade declined by 21.89 percent to Rs 873.47 billion in the first half of FY 2022/23. With the slowdown in economic activities and a contraction in the overall market demand as a persistently high inflation rate and a squeeze in liquidity in the financial put a dent in the pockets of consumers, the imports of high revenue-generating goods such as industrial raw materials, gold, mobile phones, vehicles, crude soyabean oil, and crude palm oil have declined in this fiscal. On the other hand, the import of agricultural products has increased due to the inability to increase the production of agricultural goods that can be produced domestically. It is not only the imports that have declined; the worrying fact is the country's exports have also decreased during this period. As per DoC data, Nepal's exports have declined by 32 percent to Rs 80.80 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, particularly due to the dramatic decline in the exports of palm oil, soyabean oil, and sunflower oil to India. In the last 2-3 years, Nepal’s export figure has largely been dominated by two products—palm oil and soyabean oil, which are basically not produced in Nepal. The edible oils are brought in crude form, refined and packaged in Nepal-based refineries and exported to India. It is believed that many producers even import refined oils, repackage and label the products and export them to India which has no to little value addition as products made in Nepal. The ballooning of exports of edible oils led Nepal’s overall exports to touch the Rs 200 billion mark for the first time in history in FY 2021/22. The contribution of edible oils to the country's overall export was Rs 93.69 billion. Nepal export palm oil and soyabean oil worth Rs 89.18 billion in the last fiscal year which accounts for around 45 percent of Nepal’s total exports. However, the exports of edible oils have slumped massively in the first half of FY 2022/23. The exports of palm oil slumped to Rs 13.08 billion from Rs 31.97 billion. Likewise, exports of soyabean oil also dipped to Rs 8 billion in the first six months of this fiscal from Rs 34.26 billion in the same period last fiscal year. Despite the huge drop in the export of edible oils, official data suggest that there has not been a significant drop in other products which are exported on a large scale. The country’s exports of these products suffered after India lowered its customs tariff to help tame the rising inflation in October 2021. The largest South Asian economy lowered the import duty on crude varieties of palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil to zero. However, after taking into account the 5 percent agri cess and 10 percent social welfare cess, the effective duty on crude forms of these three types of edible oil is at 5.5 percent. At the start of 2021, effective customs duty on palm, soybean and sunflower oils reached as high as 35.75 percent. With the Indian government removing the import duty on these edible oils, the duty differential advantage Nepali exporters had was gone. Nepal currently levies a one percent customs duty and a 13 percent VAT on the import of these three types of edible oil. The Indian government’s decision to abolish customs duty on raw soybean oil and palm oil has badly affected Nepal's exports. The producers are currently exporting the edible oils only one-fifth of what they used to export until India abolished the import duty. And, it seems India will not hike duty on the import of these products anytime soon. In late December last year, the Indian government extended the policy of keeping lower tariffs on vegetable oil till March 2024. These products also don’t qualify to get the export subsidies that the government announced through the budget for the current fiscal year. Foreign Trade (First Six Months)

National Assembly Vice-Chairperson Urmila Aryal assumed office on Tuesday. Before assuming the office, she took the oath of office and secrecy from National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina in the presence of President Bidya Devi Bhandari amidst a special function held in Sheetal Niwas this afternoon. Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Speaker of the House of Representatives Devraj Ghimire, heads and representatives of the constitutional bodies, leaders of different political parties and media persons were present on the occasion. Aryal was elected unopposed as the National Assembly Vice-Chair on Monday.  

Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday. During her stay in Nepal, she will pay courtesy calls on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal. She will also hold talks with civil society leaders, community groups, students, businesses, and government officials. Administrator Power will underscore the United States’ enduring, more than 75-year partnership with the government and people of Nepal. She will highlight USAID’s commitment to increasing our engagement with Nepal and its new government. Administrator Power will announce new efforts to build momentum to strengthen democratic gains in federalism, social inclusion, civil society, and media freedom, according to a statement issued by USAID.

Güner Ureya is the very first Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Nepal and Kosovo are yet to establish diplomatic relations. In this context, ApEx talks to him about the prospects of establishment of bilateral ties and other issues. What is the current status of Nepal-Kosovo relations? Nepal still has not officially recognized the independence of the Republic of Kosovo and there is no diplomatic relations between the two countries. This indicates that the ground confirming official relations between the two countries has not been established yet. Additionally, it means that the conditions remain limited for institutional cooperation and for having different win-win situations. People-to-people contacts and cooperation between the civil societies of the two countries are ahead of our corporate initiatives so far. Sadly, trade cooperation between the two countries is very limited. If we formalize bilateral relations, this will automatically bring new perspectives and opportunities for negotiating, signing and implementing bilateral agreements in different fields and for cooperating on multilateral platforms as well. The existence of official relations will also have effects on perceptions in order to make our peoples, companies, artists, sports clubs and other social subjects and branches more interested and bring them closer to each other. Therefore, we attach great importance to being recognized by Nepal and establishing diplomatic relations with your country. What are the prospects for bilateral cooperation? To give an example, the People's Republic of Bangladesh recognized us only a few years ago and now we have a very close relationship. We want similar relations with Nepal as we have a lot of common experiences and traits to share. Both countries are landlocked. The systems of both countries are built on preserving cultural values and multi-ethnic structures of our societies. Both countries` peoples and landscapes are stunning; both have a young and dynamic population. We have opportunities for institutional cooperation, especially in the fields of education, economy and more specifically agriculture. As a new country, we are very successful in sports as well. We can share our experiences with Nepal. Does Kosovo want to become a member of the European Union? Absolutely, becoming a member of the European Union is among the top priorities of our country. The integration of Kosovo together with other Western Balkan countries into the European Union is very important for peace, stability, economic development, and full reconciliation in the region. We submitted our application for membership on December 15th, 2022. We are expecting the EU to grant us the candidate State status in the near future. We believe that our previous efforts in terms of drafting the modern legislation and opportunities to utilize the experiences and knowhow of our friendly countries will contribute to accelerating our membership process. Membership will require more efforts on our part and greater readiness and consent on the part of EU member-states and other relevant bodies. Membership of Kosovo and other candidate States in the European Union will contribute to peace, unity, and a brighter future of Europe. Has there been any attempt to establish bilateral relations? Since the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Kosovo, we have been in contact with a variety of decision-makers, influencers and activists such as your country's political leaders, business people, civil society leaders, athletes and journalists, etc. These meetings were also aided by international platforms, of which we are a part. We get to know each other better every day. It is important to have diplomatic relations, but more important is to have result-oriented cooperation. Based on our own example, I can say that we have established very good dialogue and developed very good relations in some areas with some countries that still don`t recognize an independent Kosovo. Of course, it will be very valuable to be recognized by Nepal, but at the same time, we value creating strong bonds and a solid foundation for quality cooperation. Are you hopeful of Nepal recognizing Kosovo as an independent country? Yes, that is not only our wish but reasonable expectation that Nepal in near future will recognize the Republic of Kosovo. Because Kosovo's independence is a reality and irreversible. Let me emphasize that more than 110 countries have recognized the independence of my country. A large number of these countries are geographically close to our country and they realized that the Republic of Kosovo’s case is unique and cannot be used as a precedent for other cases. In addition, they considered peace and stability of the region as well as their own peace and stability. On the other hand, it should also be remembered that the International Court of Justice with its advisory opinion in 2010 confirmed the legitimacy of the declaration of the Independence of Kosovo. Although we always receive good-faith feedback from Nepal, unfortunately, we haven’t gotten official recognition from Kathmandu. Nepal is an independent, sovereign, free and egalitarian country, so it determines its foreign policy preferences. We all know that countries have their own sets of priorities. As I have mentioned in my earlier appearances in Nepali media, our hope is that Nepal officially recognizes Kosovo as soon as possible and that the silhouette of your flag is reflected on the Kosovo government building with the words "Thank you Nepal". The sequel will be even better. As Kosovo is celebrating its 15th Anniversary of Independence, what is your message? On February 17, we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Kosovo. Despite some challenges, we Kosovars are immensely proud of the progress of our country. In 15 years, the Republic of Kosovo has made remarkable progress in every field. Today, we have a functional and democratic country with a steadily growing economy. We have many reasons to be more hopeful for a better future. Like Nepal, Kosovo is a very beautiful country. Like the Nepalis, Kosovars are very friendly and beautiful. It would not be fair to only make good wishes for our own future. We need to make wishes for our world and work in that direction. Ending wars and resolving disputes would be very important for the future of our world. We must devote our energies to friendships, sustainable development and protecting our planet. Vengeful spirits and destroyed nature cannot be corrected with millions of prayers. We must instill love in people both at home and in the world. I'm sure all Nepalis and Kosovars have these wishes, but it is essential that the whole world be convinced of this. May every anniversary bring goodness to us and to all people in the world.

Despite the government lifting restrictions on the import of the automobile, automobile dealers have not yet cleared the imported vehicles and chassis parked at customs yards. According to the Birgunj Customs Office, there are nearly 2,500 vehicles and chassis of the automobile stored at yards of Inland Container Depot (ICD) and customs office for months. “The imports have remained uncleared till now,” said Ram Chandra Sharma Dhakal, Information Officer at Birgunj Customs Office. “As far as I understand, automobile dealers are seeking ease in getting loans from banks which turned out to be difficult in recent months.” Despite the easing of liquidity in the financial system lately, banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are yet to ease auto lending as borrowing interest rates are still persistently higher. According to the Department of Customs (DoC), around 2,900 four-wheelers and their chassis have remained parked at the customs yards, particularly at Birgunj Customs Office, Inland Container Depot in Birgunj, and Bhairahawa Customs Office. According to DoC, these vehicles were imported based on the letters of credit (LCs) opened before the government imposed a ban on imports of various types of goods including automobiles in April 2022. “We've long been urging auto importers to get customs clearance for imported vehicles," said a DoC official. Clearance of these imported vehicles has been important for the government which is facing a resource crunch lately. Last week, the government not only decided to reduce its administrative expenditure by 20 percent but also asked the provincial and local governments to cut their similar expenses by an equivalent percentage citing that the government’s treasury has already been negative by Rs 90 billion. In early January, DoC urged the representatives of the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal to clear the imported four-wheelers as the department has been under pressure from the finance ministry to boost customs revenue. The automobile dealers sought the abolition of restrictive measures against the import of the automobile. Particularly, they had complained about the central bank directive that made it mandatory for the importers of vehicles to deposit a 50 percent cash margin to open a letter of credit for importing the vehicles. In the third week of January, the Nepal Rastra Bank removed the provision on cash margin easing the automobile dealers to import new vehicles. Earlier, the government had lifted the ban on the import of vehicles along with foreign alcohol, and expensive mobile sets effective from mid-December last year. “Currently, the automobile dealers are not saying anything clearly about why they are delaying customs clearance of imported vehicles,” the DoC official said. But the dealers have hinted at the difficulty in getting auto loans as one of the major reasons behind the sluggish market demand for vehicles. Automobile dealers say while Nepal Rastra Bank did ease the process, they are not clearing the vehicles mainly due to two reasons - difficulty in getting auto loans and slow demand in the auto market. "The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on auto loans is still 50 percent. Given the current situation, customers are not interested in buying vehicles under this arrangement," said Anup Baral, a member of NADA. According to him, interest rates on auto loans are still on the higher side. "99 percent of vehicles are purchased through auto loans. With higher interest rates and difficulty in getting loans, sales have plummeted to a record low," said Baral. The annual size of the passenger car market in Nepal is 18,000. "While automobile dealers across the country used to sell 1500 passenger cars monthly during normal time. This has come down to 150 currently," said Baral. With the automobile dealers not clearing the vehicle and their chassis imported from the customs yards for the last several months, DoC has warned the importers that the department would be forced to impose fines for the clearance delays. According to the customs rules, the goods deposited in customs go-down should be cleared within sixty days from the date of their registration at the customs office. As per the Customs Act 2007, if the owner of goods stored in a customs godown operated by the Customs Office does not get clearance and get delivery of such goods within the prescribed time limit, demurrage shall be charged as prescribed. Demurrage is a charge levied by the shipping line to the importer in cases where they have not taken delivery of the full container and moved it out of the port/terminal area for unpacking within the allowed free days. As per the customs rules 2007, the importer has to pay a charge of 20 paisa per day per kg up to thirty days, 40 paisa per day per kg from more than thirty days up to sixty days, and 60 paisa per day per kg charge for more than sixty days. The government expects a substantial revenue collection from the clearance of these imported vehicles. “We have estimated Rs 4-5 billion in revenue from the clearance of the vehicles,” said Dhakal. The automobile is among the largest revenue-generating sectors for the government. In the last fiscal year 2021/22, Rs 66.30 billion was collected in revenue from imports of four and two-wheelers. Even after the relaxation in import restrictions, the customs officials say there has not been any significant increase in revenue. Our target for revenue till mid-February is Rs 140 billion but we have been able to collect only Rs 87 billion,” said Dhakal.