Submit your Article

German Ambassador to Nepal Thomas Prinz paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday. During the meeting held this morning, the two discussed issues relating to bilateral relations, mutual interests and common concerns, according to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. On the occasion, the German envoy congratulated Dahal on his appointment as the Prime Minister of Nepal and wished him a successful term.

Nepal Investment Bank (NIB) and Mega Bank on Wednesday started the unified business, completing their seven-month-long merger process. With the merger coming to a logical conclusion, NIB's long effort of becoming a larger bank has finally materialized. The merged entity is named Nepal Investment Mega Bank (NIMB). NIB approached the Himalayan Bank last year for the union and the two institutions even struck a merger deal in May 2021. However, the merger was aborted after seven months in January 2022. The annual general meeting of the Himalayan Bank rejected the bank's merger with NIBL after the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and a group of investors led by Manoj Bahadur Shrestha refused to go ahead with the merger. Following the failed attempt, NIB approached Mega Bank and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on June 10, 2022, agreeing on a swap ratio of 100:90 and that the entity formed after the merger will use the core banking system of NIB. The new entity NIMB has a seven-member board led by Chairman Prithvi Bahadur Pande, while Prajanaya Rajbhandary, Kabi Kumar Tibrewala, Gopal Khanal, Madan Kumar Acharya, Mukti Ram Pandey and Manju Basnett are the directors. NIB CEO Jyoti Prakash Pandey has been named the CEO of NIMB. Post-merger, the bank's paid-up capital has reached Rs 34.43 billion while deposits and extension of loans stood at Rs 360 billion and Rs 329 billion, respectively. The bank's total capital now stood at Rs 58 billion and its customer base has increased to 3 million. NIB is one of the country's oldest commercial banks, established in 1986 as Nepal Indosuez Bank. It is Nepal's second private sector bank which was established as a joint venture between Nepali and French partners. In 2002, a group of Nepali investors led by Pande acquired the 50 percent shareholding of the French partner Credit Agricole Indosuez in Nepal Indosuez Bank, and named the bank Nepal Investment Bank Ltd. Mega Bank started its operations on July 23, 2010 and had completed 12 years of operation in the banking sector.  

Ajod Insurance and United Insurance have signed a merger agreement on Wednesday. The Ajod-United merger initiative has come after Ajod's unsuccessful merger attempt with Prabhu Insurance. United Insurance Director Ravindra Raj Pant and Ajod Director Chiranjeevi Dwa signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on behalf of their respective organizations. It has been agreed that the swap ratio between United and Ajod will be 100:90 and the name of the entity formed after the merger will be United Ajod Insurance. Earlier, Ajod and Prabhu Insurance had signed a merger agreement in the last week of July 2022. However, the proposed merger did not materialize as both companies could not agree on the swap ratio. Ajod entered into a merger agreement with United after the regulatory body Nepal Insurance Authority agreed to end the merger process with Prabhu Insurance. During the signing of the agreement, both companies had agreed to merge with a swap ratio of 100:70. But, later Prabhu proposed a 100:60 swap ratio. The merger momentum in the Nepali insurance sector has intensified in the last one year after the Nepal Insurance Authority increased the minimum paid-up capital requirements of both life-insurance companies and non-life insurance companies. The authority has increased the paid-up capital of non-life insurance companies to Rs 2 billion while it is Rs 5 billion for life insurance companies. The authority has been pushing for consolidation in the Nepali insurance sector since the new chairman Surya Silwal took charge of the authority. There have been two successful mergers in the non-life insurance business in 2022. In July, Himalayan General Insurance and Everest Insurance merged to form Himalayan Everest Insurance Co. Ltd. Similarly, in October, Sanima General Insurance and General Insurance Company merged to form Sanima GIC Insurance Ltd. And, the first merger in the Nepali life insurance sector took place on December 22 with Surya Life Insurance and Jyoti Life Insurance starting an integrated business as Suryajyoti Life Insurance Company. This is the first merger among the life insurance companies in the country. While other life insurance companies have also signed merger agreements, they are yet to complete the merger process.

The talk of double-digit economic growth is back on the agenda of the political parties. Even as the country's economy is growing at a modest rate, the common minimum program (CMP) unveiled by the ruling parties on Monday has also brought up the double-digit agenda. The highest GDP growth Nepal had in the last 10 years was in FY 2016/17 when the country's economy grew by 8.9 percent. Nepal’s economy grew by 5.84 percent in the last fiscal year. The government has targeted 8 percent growth in the current fiscal year. Unveiling the CMP, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, who headed the CMP drafting task force said that the government is committed to development and prosperity by achieving double-digit economic growth in the next five years. “The government aims to reduce public expenditure, provide free electricity and water to the public, and control inflation,” said Poudel. Similarly, sustainable development, increasing domestic production, reducing public expenditure, and promoting employment and entrepreneurship have been kept in the government's priority. The government has claimed of achieving a high-digit economic growth rate by effectively implementing these priorities. "A plan has been set to take the economic growth rate close to double-digit within five years with the involvement of three-tier of governments, private sector, development partners and financial sector," reads the CMP. The CMP also talks about making policy-level, institutional reform in order to create an investment-friendly environment. Taming inflation The CMP emphasizes strict monitoring to curb black marketeering, and adulteration of food items, as well as implementing a system to control the business cartels in the market supply of daily consumer goods. It aims to make the supply of everyday consumer goods easily accessible and affordable, while also ensuring fair prices for all types of goods and services from public institutions. Industry registration within seven days The government has said that the industry registration process would be completed in just seven days. A time card system will be developed so that businesses don’t have to face hassles, and get approval for their industries and businesses in the stipulated time. If the approval is not obtained or the information is not provided within the specified time, the responsible employee will have to face actions as per the legal provisions, according to the program. Free electricity up to 50 units Adding to the list of populist programs is the government's announcement of free electricity of up to 50 units. It has said that it would provide 50 units of electricity per month in the rainy season and 30 units per month in winter free of charge for domestic consumption. The government has announced that the power generation capacity will reach 6,500 megawatts and per capita electricity consumption will reach 700 kilowatt hours in five years. It has also been announced that the electricity tariff will be adjusted so that the general public can afford it. Likewise, the government also announced plans to make electricity available across the country.

After lifting seven months-long import restrictions on automobiles, alcohol, and high-end mobiles in mid-December last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) appears to be moving in the direction of further easing the measures taken to discourage imports. The central bank is now said to be considering removing the provision that made the importers of certain types of goods deposit cash in the banks before opening the letters of credit (LCs) to import such goods. The provision requiring cash margin was made in order to discourage imports which had widened the balance of payment deficit and depleted foreign exchange reserves since the early days of fiscal 2021-22. Though these restrictive measures contributed to reducing imports and improving the country's external sector to a certain extent, they also resulted in a huge decline in government revenue which is heavily reliant on imports. The slowdown in revenue collection forced the government to lift import restrictions on the imports of vehicles, alcohol and expensive mobile phones in mid-December, 2022. Now, the central bank is also considering abolishing the provision of cash margin which is another import control measure. “Internal discussions were held regarding removing the provision of cash margin and we have reached the conclusion that the provision should now be abolished,” a senior official of NRB said under the condition of anonymity. “However, no decision has been taken on the matter and it is also not immediately clear whether the provision will be gradually abolished and fully done at once.” The officials said that it has also not been certain whether the provision will be removed immediately or when it is done during the second quarter review of the monetary policy. Importers have been demanding that the import control measures should be relaxed. Even after the ban on the import of automobiles was lifted, the importers of automobile dealers have not cleared their four-wheelers parked at the different customs yards. According to the Department of Customs, over 2800 four-wheelers including cars, SUVs, buses and trucks have remained stuck at customs yards. “Automobile dealers have been reluctant to clear these imported vehicles stating that they are still in agitation demanding the removal of the provision that requires importers to deposit cash margin before they can order goods,” said an official at the Department of Customs. In December 2021, the central bank first made it mandatory for the importers of 10 types of goods to maintain a 100 percent cash margin while opening LCs for imports. The importers were required to maintain a 100 percent margin at the concerned banks to open a letter of credit for the import items like alcoholic beverages, tobacco, silver, furniture, sugar, and foods containing sweeteners, glucose, mineral water, energy drinks, cosmetics, shampoos, hair dyes, caps, shoes, umbrellas, and building supplies like bricks, marble, tiles, and ceramics, among others. And, on February 9, 2022, the NRB further increased the number of import items requiring a 100 percent cash margin to 43 while it fixed the cash margin needed for the import of four types of goods at 50 percent. But the NRB in early December 2022 rolled back its decision to keep a 100 percent margin provision on the import of construction material, seats, and expansible polystyrene goods. Amid import control measures, the customs revenue collection stood at Rs 157 billion in revenue against the target of Rs 257 billion until mid-December, according to the Department of Customs. While the less than targeted revenue collection forced the government to rethink the import control measures, international agencies such as International Monetary Fund has also been asking the government to halt the policy stating that these measures brought distortion in the market. The central bank is also of the view that there has been some improvement in the country's external sector as the balance of payment (BoP) has turned surplus, and foreign exchange reserves have increased as well as remittance inflow. The BoP has remained positive by Rs 20 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year while foreign exchange reserves also increased by 2.5 percent to Rs 1246.27 till mid-November, according to the central bank. “We cannot continue the import restrictions forever and we have to stop at some point and there is a consensus at the central bank that it is time to revisit the import control measures,” the central bank official said. But there are fears that the country's external sector could again come under stress if the NRB removes the cash margin provision. Economists say imports will be encouraged once the central bank removes the cash margin provision, which will further hit the country's forex reserves.

Newly appointed Chief Minister of Bagmati Province Shalikram Jamarkattel called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the latter’s official residence in Baluwatar on Thursday. During the meeting, Prime Minister Dahal congratulated Jamarkattel on his appointment as the Chief Minister, according the PM's Secretariat. The newly appointed Chief Minister Jamarkattel is the leader of CPN (Maoist Centre). He was appointed as the Chief Minister on Monday with the support of ruling parties including the CPN-UML.

Nepali media need to invest in the capacity building of reports to improve their coverage of human rights and inclusion issues and embrace human rights approaches while reporting elections by identifying tools and measures that support the promotion of free, fair and participatory elections. These are the needs highlighted by a study on the media coverage of elections from human rights perspectives, carried out by Media Action Nepal (MAN) with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), launched on Tuesday. Launching the report, Minister of the Government of Nepal Damodar Bhandari highlighted the need to see issues of the society that the state does not see and to bring them to prominence and national attention. He also noted the quantitative and qualitative growth Nepali media had made over the past few decades but worried that that growth had not been reflected in the media’s content. "Nepali media may be getting tangled in surficial issues and not bringing forth the deep analysis required. The Government of Nepal stands with the media for its development," he added. Speaking during the event, Laxman Datt Pant, Chairperson of Media Action Nepal called these findings thought-provoking and hoped that this study would encourage media owners and practitioners to introduce an effective in-house strategy for promoting issues of human rights and inclusion through their content. "This study is very important and relevant as it sheds light on newsroom awareness vis-a-vis issues of human rights and inclusion, particularly around the time of elections and also because it recommends an action plan for newsroom practitioners to follow to advance human rights and inclusion through their reporting," Pant added. Bandana Rana, CEDAW Committee Member lamented that the media used sexist language and portrayed women in a stereotypical way. Women candidates were also presented as weak, emotional and indecisive during elections and in the aftermath, women family members were blamed for their husbands’ or sons’ decisions. President of eth Federation Nepali Journalists Bipul Pokhrel praised Media Action Nepal for producing reference materials for educating journalists and also for holding a mirror to journalism, He also showed just how wide an impact media content could have at all levels of the society so noted the need for the press to be accountable and fact-based. The study has made these recommendations based on its finding that only 1.9 percent of the news reports produced by Nepali newspapers and online portals during the time of last November’s federal and provincial elections covered human rights and inclusion issues. It looked at 7,459 news stories published in 20 media outlets (10 newspapers and 10 online news portals; three broadsheets and three portals from the Kathmandu Valley and seven broadsheets and seven portals from the provinces) over a period of 16 days (eight days before the election day, the polling day November 20 and seven days after the elections) and found that only 142 covered issues of human rights and inclusion. MAN believes this is a woefully low number considering that Nepal is a party to several international human rights instruments and the constitution of the country also expresses commitment to the principles of human rights and inclusion. Furthermore, out of the 142 stories, 30 stories (21.13 percent) were related to women rights, 21  (14.79 percent) to social justice, 18 (12.68 percent) to education and health, 17 (11.97 percent) to youth employment and empowerment, 12 (8.45 percent) to the rights of people with disabilities, eight (5.63 percent) to the rights of farmers, one (0.70 percent) each on the rights of child and right to food, 10 stories (7.04 percent) to poverty alleviation, seven (4.93 percent) to the rights of senior citizens and 12 (8.45 percent) were related to the rights of minorities. Corroborating concerns from LGBTIQ+ and Dalits that their voices do not find space in the media, only two news stories (1.41 percent) were on the rights of sexual and gender minorities and three (2.11 percent) on the rights of Dalits. Surprisingly, none of the media outlets produced stories on good governance, an issue considered vital to voters during elections.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 21. 34 points to close at 2,190. 42 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 77 points to close at 419. 14 points. A total of 20,843,952 unit shares of 254 companies were traded for Rs 7. 65 billion. Meanwhile, Barahi Hydropower Public Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. Likewise, Taragaon Regency Hotel Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 8. 74 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 16 trillion.