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On Sept 8 last year, India banned the export of broken rice and imposed a 20 percent duty on exports of various grades of rice in a bid to boost local supply and control rising market prices. The move, however, resulted in a spike in the price of key staple food in the Nepali market as the people in the country heavily rely on imported rice. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the prices of cereals including rice surged by 9.19 percent in mid-Nov 2022, a sharp jump of 2.08 percent from the same period in the previous year. Though Nepal produces a roughly adequate quantity of rice, fine rice, which is in huge demand in the country, is insufficient. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, about 70 percent of Nepal’s total rice production comes under the category of mota chamal (rough rice) which is not a popular variety of rice to use as meals in the country. With long-grain rice varieties increasingly becoming popular in the country basically due to the increase in income of ordinary Nepalis and the growing culture of consuming rice in daily meals, Nepal has increasingly relied on imported long-grain rice in the past two decades. Amid this growing reliance, the market prices of rice have surged after India’s restrictions on rice exports. However, officials and experts say that India’s restriction on export could be a blessing in disguise for Nepal to promote the consumption of domestic rice as well as other cereal products. As a result of India’s restrictions, there has been a sharp drop in the imports of rice and overall cereal products. According to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), cereal imports during the first five months of the current fiscal year dropped by 40.2 percent to Rs 20.31bn during the first five months of the current fiscal year 2022/23. According to Nepal Rastra Bank(NRB), imports of rice and paddy dropped by 49.7 percent to Rs 6.68bn during the first four months of the current fiscal year. In early November last year, India allowed the export of 600,000 tonnes of unmilled rice to Nepal. The southern neighbor, which is the largest exporter of rice in the world, said it would allow cargos of white and brown rice backed by letters of credit (LCs) issued before Sept 9 to be shipped overseas, a measure that provides some relief to exporters grappling with fresh government curbs. Hikmat Kumar Shrestha, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Programme under the Ministry of Agriculture, said reduction in imports should not worry Nepal about food security as the country has produced close to enough rice for the national population this fiscal year. Official statistics show paddy production in the country in this fiscal year increased by 6.94 percent to 5.48m tonnes covering both productions of both rainy and dry seasons. In the last fiscal year, paddy production had dropped by 8.74 percent to 5.13m tonnes. “If all Nepalis consume rice only as their meals, we will have an inadequacy of only 550,000 tonnes of rice for the current fiscal year,” said Shrestha. “If we change our food habits by consuming other cereal products too as a staple food, there will be no food shortage in the country.” But most of the rice produced in the country falls under the category of mota chamal (rough rice). Shrestha said farmers don’t like to cultivate long-grain or fine rice as their productivity is not as good as that of mota chamal. “That’s why the country has been increasingly importing fine rice from India for meals,” said Shrestha. Lately, the government has been encouraging the cultivation of fine rice in the country through incentives. According to Shrestha, as a result, the share of mota chamal production in the country has come down to 70 percent from around 90 percent just 5-7 years ago. Most of the mota chamal is used for producing beaten rice, dry-fired grains, and other kinds of feed. There has also been an effort from the private sector to promote the cultivation of fine rice. For example, Buddha Air owner Birendra Bahadur Basnet has invested in paddy processing. He has set up the Arju Rice Mill in Duhabi, Sunsari which promises to pay farmers the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy before they begin the transplantation. The company has also promised to harvest and collect the crop from the farmers’ fields. The country spends a lot of money on importing agricultural products including rice though a lot of people are employed in the agriculture sector. According to a study conducted by the National Planning Commission, Nepal imported agricultural goods worth over Rs 200 billion in the fiscal year 2019/20, which could be produced within the country. The study titled Status of Export and Import of Agriculture Goods says most agricultural goods came from India. Massive imports in the last year resulted in fast depletion of foreign exchange reserves in the country raising concerns that Nepal could go the ‘Sri Lanka way’. “Export restriction from India should be taken as an opportunity to increase and promote domestic products and production,” said a senior NRB official, adding, “We will not have to suffer from hunger due to the export restrictions as rice comes to Nepal also through informal channels. So, we should utilize this as an opportunity.”

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 17. 83 points to close at 2,064. 09 points on Monday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1. 00 point to close at 395. 01 points A total of 8,271,355 unit shares of 253 companies were traded for Rs 2. 96 billion. Meanwhile, Dhaulagiri Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited and Shrijanshil Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited were the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. NMB 50 was the top loser as its price fell by 4.80 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 98 trillion.

CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal said that his party cannot join the ruling coalition. During a politburo meeting held on Monday, Nepal said that his party cannot join the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government. “We are doing good in the current political situation. We are not going to bow down just for joining the government.  Our party cannot join the ruling alliance. We want to move ahead by keeping the country's interests at the center,” he said. A Standing Committee meeting held on Saturday and Sunday had failed to make a decision on the issue of supporting the government. Leaders within the party have been expressing differing views on the issue of taking part in the government. Some leaders have been saying that they should only support the current government while some have stressed that they should participate in the government.  

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will take the vote of confidence on January 10. Prime Minister Dahal wrote to the Federal Parliamentary Secretariat General Secretary Bharat Raj Gautam to make arrangements for him to take the vote of confidence on January 10. He will take the vote of confidence in the meeting of the Parliament. Dahal, who is also the Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center), presented the claim for the top executive post with the support of 169 lawmakers. He took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 26. There is a provision in the Constitution of Nepal that the PM should take the vote of confidence within 30 days of being appointed to the post. CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, and Janamat Party are the ruling coalition parties. Three independent lawmakers are also in the ruling alliance. Dahal became the prime minister with the support of seven political parties and three independent lawmakers.  

Kathmandu: China has sought Nepal’s support to implement the two of its strategies Global Development Initiative (GDI) and Global Security Initiative (GSI). In a meeting with Nepali Ambassador to China Bishnu Pukar Shrestha in Beijing, Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Liu Jinsong raised these two issues on which the Nepal government is yet to make its position. According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Liu said that China looks forward to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation with the new government in Kathmandu. Along with BRI, China wants to speed up the GSI and GDI. Some of the programs under GDI have already been implemented in Kathmandu.  President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s participation in the GSI program a few weeks back drew criticisms. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is positive on China’s GSI. However, politicians and experts are of the view that the Nepal government should be cautious on it as it is a security issue. Over the past couple of few days, China’s diplomatic reach in Kathmandu has substantially increased. 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs of India has suggested the government to review and enhance its developmental diplomacy in view of the increasing Chinese outreach and presence in its neighborhood, Press Trust of India reports. The ministry report was based on the panel’s observations on the subject ‘Demands for Grants' of the ministry for the year 2022-23, according to the PTI report. It also dealt with aid allocations to India's neighboring countries, including Afghanistan and Nepal. “In view of the increasing Chinese outreach and presence in India's neighborhood, the Committee feels that India needs to review and enhance their developmental diplomacy,” the panel said. It further suggested that “a strategy/vision should be formulated to expand our developmental partnership, particularly capacity building and knowledge sharing, to effectively counter the presence of other regional powers in our neighborhood.” The ministry submitted that the Government of India attaches high priority to the relationship with neighboring countries and has a well-articulated policy of ‘Neighborhood First’. In its reply, the Ministry of External Affairs told the panel that the primary orientation of India's foreign policy remains its immediate neighborhood under the ‘Neighborhood First’ policy.

Pokhara International Airport, the third international airport of Nepal, was inaugurated amidst a grand ceremony on Sunday. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who had reached the lake city to inaugurate the airport, said that the dream of the people of Kaski has been fulfilled. He also claimed that the Pokhara International Airport will contribute to the economy of the country. While the dream of Pokharelis has been coming true after a long wait of five decades, China, however, has made a controversial claim about it. The Kathmandu-based Chinese Embassy said that the Pokhara International Airport is the flagship project of the China-Nepal BRI cooperation. “The Pokhara International Airport is the flagship project of the China-Nepal BRI cooperation. Congratulations to Nepal and the Nepali people,” the Chinese Embassy wrote in its Twitter account. Nepal, however, has not made any decision on the model to be adopted for the BRI Project. Former ambassador Bijayakanta Karna said that China has made a false claim. He said that China made a false claim by providing a loan at a high interest rate. According to Karna, Pokhara International Airport was built with a $215.96 million loan from the EXIM Bank of China, whose interest rate is the highest ever. “Pokhara International Airport was constructed by taking a loan at a high interest rate from the EXIM Bank of China. The Nepal government has to pay both loan and interest from March,” he said. He claimed that the Pokhara International Airport will not be included in the nine projects selected by the Chinese government. “We have heard that the nine projects of BRI have been selected. But, the Pokhara International Airport is not included even in the nine projects,” the former ambassador said. He said that the Pokhara International Airport was built with an expensive investment. “It was said that the airport will be completed in four years. But, it was inaugurated in seven years. Still, there are some works to be completed. This is an expensive airport in terms of investment as well. The airport was built with more investment than the proposed budget,” Karna said. He said that China is trying to get close with Nepal after the formation of Communist government. Karna was of the opinion that the Chinese side has started the feasibility study of Kerung-Kathmandu to show the proximity. “China is trying to get closer with Nepal after the formation of a new government under the Communist alliance. The feasibility study of Kerung-Kathmandu railway has also been started. But, the railway will not be built,” he said. China has entrusted Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd with the responsibility to carry out a feasibility study of the Kerung-Kathmandu railway. The company has deployed six engineers for the feasibility study of Kerung-Kathmandu railway. During the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Nepal, the Nepal government said that BRI cannot be brought on a loan. The then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka had said that the BRI Project cannot be implemented immediately, saying that there should be a thorough discussion on the modality among other issues of the project. Nepal had signed the BRI Project in 2017. Five years have already passed after signing the agreement, no significant progress has been made on the project. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked the Nepal government through then Prime Minister Deuba and Foreign Minister Khadka to clear its position on the BRI Project. In response, Deuba had said that Nepal could not afford the loan at a time when the country’s economy is already in crisis.  

In what could be seen as a strong recovery in the Nepali tourism business, tourist arrivals in Nepal rose to a three-year high in 2022. Over 600,000 tourists visited Nepal last year, putting an end to a two-year downward spiral that started in early 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc across the world. Data from Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) shows that a total of 614,148 international tourists visited Nepal last year, of which 67,932 came in December. While the number of foreign visitors entering Nepal grew by 306.82 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, it is still 48.70 percent lower than in 2019 when 1.19 million arrivals were recorded. According to NTB, the largest number of foreign visitors who came to Nepal in 2022 were from India. A total of 209,105 Indian tourists visited Nepal last year. Similarly, 77,009 came from the US, 44,781 from the UK, 26,874 from Australia, and 25,384 from Bangladesh. With two new international airports—Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport in Bhairahawa and Pokhara Regional International Airport—coming into operation, the tourism sector is buoyant about the footfalls of visitors in the country in 2023. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the Pokhara International Airport on Sunday. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has already prepared the strategic framework for the Nepal Tourism Decade 2023-2032 while Nepal Tourism Board has said it is targeting 1 million foreign visitors for 2023. The framework developed by a four-member expert panel led by the former NTB CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha has set ambitious targets of increasing tourist spending to $125 daily from the existing $48, creating 1 million direct jobs in the tourism sector, and increasing the tourism sector's contribution to national GDP to 10 percent. The plan also aims to bring the tourist numbers to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 and increase arrivals in each subsequent year by 15 percent. The NTB CEO Dhananjay Regmi, while addressing the 24th anniversary of the board on Saturday said that the tourism industry is in a revival phase after two disastrous years and the board will focus more in attracting visitors from Asia, mainly from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. For the Nepali tourism industry, the years 2020 and 2021 came as a nightmare. With global travel coming to a grinding halt due to the restrictions enforced by governments across the world, the arrival of tourists fell to record lows resulting in massive financial losses and layoffs in the tourism and hospitality business. In 2020, Nepal’s tourism earnings totaled USD 217 million which was USD 801 million in 2019. The earnings plummeted by 48.2 percent to a meager USD 112.5 million in 2021. Similarly, average expenses per visitor per day plunged to USD 48 in 2021 which was USD 65 in 2020. Tourist Arrivals in Nepal