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Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday, Reutres reported.

The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised spirits among weary search crews. But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of towns and cities.

The death toll across both countries has now surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey.

A Turkish official said the disaster posed “very serious difficulties” for the holding of an election scheduled for May 14 in which President Tayyip Erdogan has been expected to face his toughest challenge in two decades in power.

With anger simmering over delays in the delivery of aid and getting the rescue effort underway, the disaster is likely to play into the vote if it goes ahead.

The first U.N. convoy carrying aid to stricken Syrians crossed over the border from Turkey.

In Syria’s Idlib province, Munira Mohammad, a mother of four who fled Aleppo after the quake, said: “It is all children here, and we need heating and supplies. Last night we couldn’t sleep because it was so cold. It is very bad.”

Hundreds of thousands of people in both countries have been left homeless in the middle of winter. Many have camped out in makeshift shelters in supermarket car parks, mosques, roadsides or amid the ruins, often desperate for food, water and heat, according to Reuters.

Some 40% of buildings in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, epicentre of the tremor, are damaged, according to a preliminary report by Turkey’s Bogazici University.

As the liquidity situation improved in the banking system with the surge in deposit collection and low demand for loans, the credit expansion of banks and financial institutions to the private sector jumped in the six months (mid-December to mid-January) of the current fiscal year. BFIs disbursed Rs 73 billion in loans in the first five months. The disbursement spiked in the sixth month (Poush) reaching Rs 64 billion. Banks disbursed only Rs 4.7 billion in the fifth month (Mangsir). Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) data shows private sector lending of banks grew by Rs 137.33 billion in the first six months of FY 2022/23. “This suggests an improvement in the liquidity situation of the banking sector,” said a senior official of the NRB. “Interbank lending rate has also decreased to around four percent which is another indication of easing liquidity.” However, the credit expansion to the private sector during the first half of the current fiscal year is far less than what the BFIs lent during the same period last fiscal year. BFIs' lending to the private sector had grown by Rs 492.63 billion in the first six months of the previous fiscal. Along with the lending, deposit collection also surged in the Poush. Of the Rs 215.14 billion deposit growth in the first half of the current fiscal year, Rs 104 billion was recorded in Poush which also helped BFIs increase lending. Bankers, however, are not sure whether the rise in lending will continue in the coming months. “We are in a comfortable position in terms of investment-grade liquidity now and we are capable of lending to a certain extent. But we have not seen large-scale demand for credit in the last two weeks which gives to the suspicion that the loan demand seen in Poush may have fizzled out," the banker said. Businesspersons have been complaining about the weak market demand for goods and services in recent months which has forced them to reduce production. With industries running at low production capacity, the power demand from the industrial sector has also been decreasing, according to Nepal Electricity Authority. "If the government speeds up construction activities, demand for credit from the construction material industry may rise,” said the banker. However, the government is planning to cut the financing for construction projects in the wake of the resource crunch. The high-interest rates could also contribute to lower demand for loans, according to bankers. The private sector has been demanding that interest rates need to be lowered as the average interest rate of loans was 12.79 percent in January, which is the highest in the last two and half years. But BFIs are unlikely to reduce lending rates significantly because of the high cost of funds. The high cost of funds is because the majority of their source of funds is reliant on fixed deposits for which they have to pay higher interest. As of mid-January 2023, the share of fixed deposits in total deposits of banks and financial institutions stood at 60.4 percent. When it comes to categories of banks and financial institutions, finance companies have been heavily reliant on fixed deposits.  Finance companies and development banks are more reliant on fixed deposits. The share of fixed deposits in finance companies stood at 72.96 percent while the share in development banks stood at 69.33 percent and 58.22 percent in the case of commercial banks, during the first five months of this fiscal, according to NRB. “Liquidity in the financial system remains vulnerable as long as they reduce the composition of fixed deposits to around 40 percent,” another banker said. “It is because if a large institutional depositor withdraws money, investment-grade liquidity will decrease significantly.”

With the country grappling with the economic slowdown, the insurance business has taken a beating in the current fiscal year. Both life and non-life insurance business grew in single digits in the first half of the current fiscal year 2022/23. After growing in double digits in previous years, the insurance business (life and non-life) grew by a meager two percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year compared to a growth of 15 percent in the same period of the last fiscal year. The statistics of the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) show life and non-life companies collected insurance premiums totaling Rs 91.73 billion in the first half of FY 2022/23 which was Rs 90.12 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Similarly, insurance premiums increased by only Rs 1.72 billion in this fiscal year. According to NIA, life insurance companies collected premiums amounting to Rs 71.65 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year, while it was Rs 20.08 billion for non-life insurance companies. The premium collection of life insurance companies during the same period of the last fiscal stood at Rs 70.91 billion and non-life insurance companies at Rs 19.09 billion. According to NIA Executive Director Raju Raman Poudel, the ongoing economic slowdown has affected the insurance business. "Insurance business is facing challenges due to the high-interest rates, liquidity crunch, and rising inflation. These factors have reduced the common people's purchasing power," he said. Manoj Kumar Lal Karna, CEO of Union Life Insurance, is of the view that the growth of the insurance business has been held back in the current fiscal year due to the economic slowdown. "Currently, we are seeing surrender of life insurance policies in large numbers," he said. According to Karna, insurance premiums of large amounts are generally paid by borrowing money from banks. As banks are struggling with a liquidity crunch, borrowing from them has become difficult in this fiscal year and customers have not been able to pay the premiums. "As a result, there has been a big decline in the growth rate of the insurance business," he said. Insurers say that the rise in the non-renewal and surrendering of insurance policies is dragging the business down. The trend of surrendering the policy before the maturity period is increasing, according to insurance companies. The NIA data shows insurers have surrendered Rs 6.08 billion during this period. 43,715 insurance policies were surrendered in the last six months. Insurance Premium Collection

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has expressed her belief that the federal and provincial governments will work by focusing on the welfare of the country. Addressing both the Houses of federal Parliament, President Bhandari said that the people’s representatives will carry out their works in a way that fulfills the hope, trust and faith of the people. During her address, she congratulated all the newly elected lawmakers of the House of Representatives and wished for successful tenure. In addition to that, President Bhandari thanked Nepal government, Election Commission, civil servants, political parties and voters for conducting the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly in a peaceful way.

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) is going to make a new arrangement to allow stock brokerage companies to open branches within 15 days of the application. The stock market regulator is preparing to introduce a new policy by revoking the existing provisions related to the operation of the branch office of the brokerage firms. Sebon is in the process to grant permits to open branches within 15 days of receiving the application. Till now, there is no limit to granting permission for opening branches as the existing rules give discretionary power to Sebon to issue permits. As a result, the applications used to be pending for months and years at the board. According to Sebon Chairman Ramesh Hamal, a policy will be made to grant permission within 15 days of receiving the application for the branch opening. "Now brokerage companies don't have to wait for months and years to get permission to open branches like in the past. We have initiated a process to grant such permission within a short period," said Hamal, adding, "The process is in the final stage." According to Sebon, the branch opening process is being simplified to expand the share trading geographically. In his tenure, Hamal has already issued permits to 10 companies to open 16 branches last year. According to the board, the new provision will encourage brokerage companies to expand their branches to new places which will further expand the capital market in the country. In the current fiscal year, seven branches of four brokerage companies have come into operation outside the Kathmandu valley. The board had permitted the operation of branch offices outside the valley in all seven provinces of the country. As of now, 41 brokerage companies have opened 47 branches outside Kathmandu valley. About two years ago, brokerage companies applied to the board seeking permission to expand branches in about 200 locations in all seven provinces. However, the board has issued permits to only 10 brokerage firms to expand branches in 23 places. "Brokerage firms that have received in-principle approval for branch expansion were given time to prepare the infrastructure and most of the companies have already prepared the infrastructure," said Hamal. As per the third amendment of the Securities Businesspersons (Stock Broker, Securities Dealer and Market Maker) 2020, brokerage firms must ready all their infrastructure before receiving the final approval for branch office operations.  

The government has suspended Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) General Manager Premnath Thakur. Thakur was suspended as per the ministerial level decision after he was found asking for bribes with the representatives of the Thai Smile Airlines. The Tourism Ministry spokesperson Rajendra Kumar KC said that Thakur was suspended after he was found taking bribes during the investigation. “A letter has been sent to the Director General of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority as per the ministerial level decision to suspend Thakur from the post of General Manager,” read a statement issued by the Tourism Ministry on Friday. “The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has been urged to carry out further investigation on the matter.”    

A meeting of the high-level political mechanism held on Friday discussed contemporary political issues among others. During the meeting held in Baluwatar this morning, the leaders discussed contemporary political issues, giving full shape to the government and presidential election to be held on March 9. On the occasion, the leaders of the mechanism urged the Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane to join the government again. Albeit the RSP has left the government, it has not withdrawn the support extended to the government. CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden were present in the meeting. Leaders of Janata Samajbadi Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Janamat Party, who are in the mechanism, did not take part in the meeting. The exit of Rastriya Swatantra Party from the government and the Nagarik Unmukti Party not giving a vote of confidence to the Sudurpaschim Province government shows that there is a dispute within the ruling coalition. The senior leaders also discussed the ways to resolve the issue.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 300 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 103, 600 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 104, 900 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 100 per tola. It was traded at Rs 104, 400 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 30 and is being traded at Rs 1,290 per tola today.