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Nepali Congress has decided to field Mukta Yadav for the post of deputy Speaker. She was elected as the lawmakers under the Proportional Representation electoral system. An office bearers meeting of the Nepali Congress held on Friday made the decision to this effect, Congress spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat said. Yadav, a permanent resident of Mahottari, is a central member of the Nepali Congress.  

The price of gold has increased by Rs 700 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 105, 200 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 104, 500 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 104, 700 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 20 and is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today.  

The prolonged liquidity crunch that banks and financial institutions (BFIs) grappled with in the last fiscal year has affected their credit flow to the industrial sector. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) in a new report has said the total loans of BFIs to the industrial sector slumped by 8.5 percent in FY 2021/22. The credit flow was also affected as interest rates surged due to the shortage of loanable funds in the financial system making it difficult for the private sector to borrow from BFIs.  According to the new report released by NRB titled 'Economic Activities Report (Integrated) 2021/22', BFIs disbursed a total of Rs 1251.96 billion in loans to the industrial sector in the last fiscal year which was Rs 1367.75 billion in FY 2020/21. While BFIs’ credit to the industrial sector declined, the extension of loans to the services sector increased by 13.7 percent in the last fiscal year. According to NRB, BFIs disbursed Rs 1857.14 billion in loans to the service sector in FY 2021/22. Of the total loans disbursed by the BFIs in the last fiscal year, 39.6 percent went to the services sector and 26.7 percent to the industrial sector. Of the total industrial loans, 1.2 percent was disbursed to mining industry, 19.6 percent to agriculture, forestry, and beverage industry, 40 percent to non-food product manufacturing industry, 13.9 percent to construction industry, 19.7 percent to electricity, gas, and water industry and 5.6 percent to metal product, machinery, and electronics industry. According to the report, Bagmati Province had the highest loan disbursement of Rs 842.66 billion while Karnali Province had the lowest disbursement of Rs 3.67 billion. The Bagmati Province's share in industrial loans is a whopping 67.3 percent. According to the report, the share of Province 1 is 9.7 percent, Madhesh Province is 8.2 percent, Gandaki Province is 3 percent, Lumbini Province is 9.5 percent, Karnali Province is 0.3 percent and Sudur Paschim Province is 2.1 percent. The report shows, of the total loans disbursed to the services sector, 51.6 percent went to wholesale and retail, followed by 11.8 percent to finance, insurance, and real estate, 10.5 percent to tourism, and 5.5 percent to transport, storage, and communication and 4.2 percent to other services sub-sectors.

Indira Rana Magar of the Rastriya Swatantra Party will be contesting for the deputy Speaker post from the ruling coalition. A Parliamentary Party meeting of the Rastriya Swatantra Party held on Friday decided to field Magar for the post of deputy Speaker, Party spokesperson Mukul Dhakal said. She was elected as the lawmaker under the Proportional Representation electoral system. Rana, a permanent resident of Jhapa, is the founding chairperson of the Bandi Sahayata Nepal.

The Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government has taken a full-shape. In the 23-member Council of Ministers, 16 are new faces, which is a welcome move. The newly appointed ministers have rolled out ambitious plans to improve the service delivery of their respective ministries and line agencies. Those who became ministers in the first phase of expansion have already started their work. Prime Minister Dahal, on his part, has already instructed the top brass bureaucrats to bring changes in service delivery within a month. Similarly, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane and Minister for Infrastructure Development Narayan Kaji Shrestha have been conducting inspection rounds of government agencies. It remains to be seen whether this zeal shown by the government will bring about positive changes. But there is one glaring problem in the Dahal Cabinet that begs attention: appointments of Bikram Bahadur Pandey as Urban Development Minister and Dol Prasad Aryal as Labor, Employment and Social Security Minister. They have been put in charge of the ministries where they have conflicts of interest. Pandey owns a construction contract company, notorious for delaying numerous development projects. The Urban Ministry has vital tasks such as monitoring development projects and taking action against defaulting contractors. With Pandey heading the ministry, there is the obvious question regarding his impartiality. How can citizens be assured that he will not abuse his position to advance his own business or that of his close circle? Similarly, Aryal, who has been given the portfolio of Labor, Employment and Social Security, is a former foreign recruitment agency owner. It is a well-established fact that foreign employment sector is one of the most corrupt in Nepal. As fraud and malpractices are rife in the foreign employment field, the country needs a strong minister who could strictly monitor and take action against unscrupulous agencies and their agents. But the incumbent labor minister himself is a former foreign employment agency operator. One cannot expect him to work for the interest of foreign job aspirants. Elsewhere in the world, potential conflicts of interest are a major point of consideration when someone is appointed to an important post. But successive governments in Nepal have been making controversial appointments. This is not limited to ministries alone. The current parliament also has a sizable presence of industrialists and construction contractors. Prime Minister Dahal, who is holding the prime minister’s office for the third time, should have known better when appointing ministers, as he had faced intense criticism in the past for protecting his landlord and a serial contract defaulter, Sharada Prasad Adhikari. With ministers leading the ministries where they have conflicts of interest and various interest groups trying to influence the law and policy making process, Dahal’s pledge to make citizen-friendly government agencies is already ringing hollow. It will do the prime minister well to keep a close eye on his ministers, because if one of them messes up, the blame will fall squarely on him.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 5.71 points to close at 2,178.81 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1.15 points to close at 415. 05 points. A total of 8,247,646 unit shares of 246 companies were traded for Rs 3. 04 billion. Meanwhile, Green Ventures Limited, Adarsha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Kumari Dhanabriddhi Yojana was the top loser as its price fell by 8.89 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 14 trillion.

Devraj Ghimire of the CPN-UML has been elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Out of 268 votes cast today, Ghimire secured 167 votes. His nearest rival Ishwori Neupane of the Nepali Congress obtained 100 votes. Senior member of the Parliament Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana said that one lawmaker remained neutral in the voting. UML’s Subash Nembang proposed Ghimire’s candidacy while Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden, Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and CPN (Maoist Center)’s Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey seconded the proposal. Ghimire was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Jhapa-2. He defeated independent candidate Swagat Nepal by a margin of 2, 297 votes. Born in Taplejung in 2013 BS, Ghimire began his political career as a student leader and was a National Assembly member from 1999 to 2003 BS. The 66-year-old leader is now the UML standing committee member and the party in-charge for Province 1. The Constitution requires the lower house to elect the Speaker within 15 days of the commencement of the first meeting and either Speaker or Deputy Speaker shall be a woman and belong to different parties. Meanwhile, the election for the Deputy Speaker has been scheduled for January 21.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Bishwo Prakash Sharma accused CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli of trying to keep Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in a cage in the name of high-level mechanism. He said so while speaking in a Parliament meeting on Thursday. Saying that the Congress has not been laying a trap, Sharma, who is also the General Secretary of the Nepali Congress, said that Oli, however, has been trying to keep the Prime Minister in the cage. He opined that the presence of opposition in the Speaker and Sheetal Niwas will also represent the people's vote and balance the power. Sharma said that the Nepali Congress made Ishwori Neupane, a follower of party’s founding leader BP Koirala, as the candidate of the Speaker on the basis of her ability, qualifications and experience.