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The price of gold has dropped by Rs 2, 000 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 104, 100 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 106, 100 per tola on Friday. Meanwhile, the tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 600 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver is fixed at Rs 1, 320 per tola today, the Association said.  

Himalaya Shumsher Rana, the first governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, passed away on Sunday. He was 95. The great-grandson of Rana Prime Minister Dev Shumsher breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Thapathali-based Norvic Hospital. Born on January 8, 1928, he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1951. He served as the finance secretary for five years. He was offered the job of the governor at Nepal Rastra Bank by the then King Mahendra. Also Read: Himalaya Shumsher Rana: Economist par excellence Rana served as the governor for four years and eight months. He was conferred with the title of The Order of Japan (The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star) in recognition of his contribution.  

Nepal’s first road tunnel project is barely halfway through, thanks to multiple delays, as the latest progress report of the project suggests. The overall physical progress of the Nagadhunga Tunnel Project has reached 47.9 percent, with 1,782 meters dug thus far out of the total stretch of 2,888 meters—851 meters from the east (Kathmandu) and 931 meters from the west. Financial progress of the project has barely touched the halfway mark (49.59 percent). Construction of the evacuation tunnel (2,557 meters) is moving on slowly, with a total stretch of 2,046 meters dug so far—1098 meters from the east and 947 meters from the west. The project is expected to help unclog part of an artery—the Naubise-Nagdhunga section of the Prithvi Highway, where congestion is rife. The tunnel road project comprising a main tunnel from Basnetchhap to Sisne Khola and a 2.6 km approach road from Basnetchhap to Thankot will have two 3.5-meter lanes and a 2.5-meter shoulder. It has not been smooth sailing for the tunnel project, with various factors impeding its progress. Since Jan 16, construction work has been affected for want of sand and gravel as the government shut down crusher plants operating illegally. With the government allowing the plants to resume their operation, the project is preparing to resume construction work, including excavation. Madhav Adhikari, deputy project director of the project, says preparations are afoot to resume tunnel-digging. The then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had laid the project’s foundation stone in October 2019, but actual construction work began in December 2020. As per the project development contract, Hazama-Ando Corporation, the Japanese company tasked with tunnel construction, had to complete the structure within 42 months of starting the work. The construction work suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well. The deadline was extended by an additional 86 days on account of these factors. The latest progress report of the project indicates that the construction work is unlikely to be completed even within the extended deadline. In 2016, the Japanese government had agreed to provide a soft loan of Rs 15.28 billion for the project. Of the total project cost of Rs 22.14 billion, the Nepal government is investing Rs 5.85 billion while Japan will be investing for the shortfall. The Japanese government had signed its official development assistance loan worth Rs 15.28 billion with Nepal for the Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project on December 23, 2016, fixing a 40-year repayment period and a 10-year grace period with 0.01 percent annual interest.

Annapurna Media Network organized a cycle rally to mark World Cancer Day on Saturday. A total of 1, 500 people participated in the event titled ‘Annapurna Ride for Life-2023’. The organizer distributed various prizes to the participants through lucky draw. Saying that all the contestants played an important role to raise awareness against cancer, all of them were made eligible for the lucky draw contests. Sujit Lama won the Gosaikunda helicopter round trip through a lucky draw. Under which, a couple will receive a round trip to Gosaikunda, an important pilgrimage site for Hindus, from Simrik Helicopter. Similarly, Anil Sigdel will get the facility of one-night stay at the Chandragiri Hills Resort. Under which, a couple will get the facility of one-day stay at the Chandragiri Hills with dinner. The Punchbike distributed cycling jackets among other materials to 10 people. Manju Shakya, Rajendra Bajracharya, Sapana Bajracharya, Rameshwor Ghimire, Santoshmani Baidhya, Sujesh Maharjan, Deepak Bajracharya, Rabi Manandhar and Pemba Tsering Lama won the cycling materials. Likewise, The Foodmandu provided food packages to 10 people. Jibesh Shrestha, Suraj Khadka, Ranjit Bogati, Ram Chandra GC, Sachin Shrestha, Nitij Raj Bhandari, Abhisekh Shrestha, Samsad Alam, Shekhar Tamrakar and Janak Tiwari won the food packages. Rajesh Maharjan, Amu Raj Bhandari and Laxman Dangol won one year's subscription of the Annapurna Express daily and Dev Raj KC, Narayan Kumar Shrestha and Mukesh Kumar Shah will get the Annapurna Post daily for one year. Annapurna Media Network Director Sachan Thapa, editor-in-chief Akhanda Bhandari, Deputy General Manager Bikash Shrestha, Politburo Chief of the Annapurna Post Narendra Saud and Finance Head Sunil Poudel among others distributed prizes to the participants.    

The government has been forced to manage an extra budget than the allocated amount for repaying the internal debt in the current fiscal year with the liabilities to the domestic creditors increasing along with the rise in interest rate amid a liquidity crunch in the market. The government increased the budget for internal loans payment by nearly 60 percent for FY 2022/23 but that will not be enough for domestic debt liability for the current fiscal year. “We have estimated more than Rs 20 billion in the additional budget for the current fiscal year to repay the internal loans, both principal and interest,” said a senior official of the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO). The government has allocated Rs 134.32 billion allocated for internal debt servicing, of which Rs 43.73 billion has been allocated for paying the interest on the internal loans for this fiscal year. The allocated budget for domestic debt servicing is higher by 58.17 percent compared to the total repayment the government made to the domestic creditors in FY 2021/22. The government had spent Rs 84.9 billion in domestic debt servicing in the last fiscal year, according to the PDMO. With an arrangement of over Rs 20 billion for repaying the domestic debt, the government will be paying almost double what it paid in the last fiscal year for domestic debt servicing. The allocated budget has not been enough for repaying domestic debt at a time when it has been seeing a sharp drop in revenue collection. As of February 1, the government’s revenue collection stood at Rs 480.28 billion in FY 2022/23, which is far less than the collection of Rs 574.27 billion during the same period last fiscal year. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance in a press statement admitted that the government’s resource is under pressure because of a number of factors including increased liability for social security, salary, and pension as well as the inadequacy of budgetary allocation for debt payment due to the increased interest rate of domestic debts. The ministry also announced a number of measures to reduce recurrent expenditure and budgetary allocation for non-essential projects. The PDMO official said that the allocated budget for domestic debt repayment would be inadequate because the government had to pay more in interest than estimated during the first half of the current fiscal year. “The interest rate to be paid to the subscribers of the government’s development bonds reached as high as 12 percent in December and January,” said the official, adding that it increased the interest to be paid to the creditors. According to the official, in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the interest of the government bonds has come down to 7-8 percent. The government has allocated Rs 43.73 billion for paying interest on domestic loans for the current fiscal year. It spent Rs 37.58 billion to repay the interest to the domestic creditors in the last fiscal year. The government's both internal and external debt has been on the rise for the last few fiscal years. Along with the rise in overall debt, the amount to be allocated for repaying the loans has also increased. There has been a sharp rise in domestic debt in recent years with the government requiring more resources to implement federalism and tackle major crises like the earthquake, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The government’s outstanding internal loans reached as high as Rs 957.61 billion as of the first quarter of the current fiscal, up from just Rs 391.16 billion in FY 2017/18, according to the PDMO. Rising debt liabilities over the last few years also forced the government to allocate more and more budgetary allocations for repayment.

The Parsa National Park office has filed a case against 49 people including two province lawmakers involved in wildlife poaching. The office filed the case against Province lawmaker Pramod Kumar Jayaswal of Parsa 3 (A), Province lawmaker Shyam Khadka of Kathmandu 5 (B), former chairman of Sakhuwa Prasauni Rural Municipality of Parsa Pradeep Jayaswal among 49 people on January 21. Though province lawmaker Jayaswal was elected as an independent lawmaker, he joined the Janata Samajbadi Party a few days ago. Khadka is an elected lawmaker from the Nepali Congress. Former rural municipality chairman Jayaswal is also a leader of the Janata Samajbadi Party. The Jayaswal duo are brothers. Surya Khadka, Information Officer at the Parsa National Park said that a case has has been filed against province lawmakers Jayaswal duo and Khadka, former rural municipality chairman Jayaswal and Sanjeeb Shahi in accordance with the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029 (27) concluding that they played the role of accomplices in wildlife poaching. Khadka said that they will be sentenced to half of the punishment meted out to the offenders. There is a provision to punish the offenders with a fine of Rs 20, 000 to 50, 000 or imprisonment of six months to one year or both.  

Nagarik Unmukti Party lawmaker Arun Chaudhary, who was arrested from Kohalpur of Banke on Thursday, has been sent to jail. He was produced before the Kailali District Court on Friday. Around 12 years ago, the Kailali District Court had sentenced Chaudhary to six months in jail for torching a tractor. He was sent to the jail as per the same order. Chaudhary was apprehended while he was hiding in Chisapani area of Baijanath Rural Municipality-1, Banke. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Kailali-2 by securing 21, 871 votes. Police said that Chaudhary was nabbed as he has yet to serve the jail term associated with a 12-year-old arson case.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 400 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 106, 100 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 107, 500 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 105, 600 per tola. It was traded at Rs 107, 000 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 30 and is being traded at Rs 1,365 per tola today.