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The agitating business community members have halted their protest programs after the newly appointed Minister for Finance Bishnu Poudel assured them to address their demands by the end of Poush. On Wednesday, Minister Poudel held a discussion with the agitating businesspersons at the ministry where he told them that the government will take necessary steps to resolve the issues in the economy. Bhawani Rana, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), who led the delegation of the businesspersons, said that various trade associations across the country have agreed to halt their protests with the finance minister's assurances. "The minister has committed that he will take decisions only after discussing with experts," she said. According to Navin Rizal, President of the Morang Merchant Association, businesspersons of Morang and other districts have stopped their protests for the time being as they believe that the new government will address their demands. Industrialists and businesspersons from Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and other cities have been demanding the postponement of guidelines on working capital loans and to bring down the persistently high interest rates. They took to the streets with demands including bringing the bank interest rates to a single digit, postponement of the implementation of the guidelines on working capital by at least two years and revision of tax rates, among others. Against the free market norms? In what is seen as against the norms of the free market, the newly appointed Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has promised to address the demand of the private sector to reduce borrowing interest rates. Just two days after assuming the office, Paudel, who took charge of the Ministry for the third time, has assured the private sector to reduce interest rates and reschedule and restructure concessional loans provided during the Covid-19 pandemic. While businesspersons have been accused of investing the money they took as refinancing and working capital loans in real estate and the stock market, the finance minister's assurances to the agitating business community to fulfill their demands will not solve the problems in the economy, say observers. One of their key demands is the postponement of the implementation of the guidelines on working capital loans and the other is the bringing down of high borrowing interest rates. According to a banker, interest rates are determined by the market and not by the government. “And in a free market economy like Nepal, it is the central bank that looks at the issue, not the finance ministry. In such a crisis, how the banking sector can sustain a reduction in interest rates? And as the pandemic is already over, why does the private sector want to reschedule loans? They have already invested the loans in the unproductive sector,” said the CEO of a commercial bank on condition of anonymity. He further added that the private sector just wants to extort the government and the central bank.        

Hard hit by the persistently high interest rates, a prolonged liquidity crunch, and a sharp slowdown in business activities, the country's private sector bodies have swung into action to get their voice heard by the new dispensation in the Singhadurbar. On the top of their agenda is the postponement of the guidelines on working capital loans introduced by Nepal Rastra Bank. The two leading private sector organizations - The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI)- separately met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at his residence on Tuesday morning. The FNCCI and CNI delegations also met Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel later in the afternoon. The FNCCI delegation led by its President Shekhar Golchha apprised the PM about the difficulties faced by the private sector as well as the current state of the country's economy. During the meeting, Golchha raised the issue of postponement of the guideline on working capital loans and stressed the need for interest rate stability. The private sector has been lobbying hard for the postponement of the working capital loans guidelines by at least two years. PM Dahal assured FNCCI delegates saying that he is also studying the past suggestions of FNCCI and that initiatives will be taken to resolve the problems soon with the cooperation between the Finance Ministry, Nepal Rastra Bank, and the private sector. The CNI team led by its President Vishnu Agrawal presented a concept note on 'Rebooting Nepalese Economy' along with the clear steps to be initiated immediately in order to revive the country's economy. CNI has also suggested measures that can be taken immediately by prioritizing the financial sector (liquidity crisis and high-interest rates), industrial promotion, infrastructure, tourism, energy, and information technology sectors to give momentum to the Nepali economy. "We have prioritized the economic recovery from the very first meeting of the Council of Ministers. We will be moving ahead in collaboration with the private sector," remarked PM Dahal meeting with the CNI team. CNI office bearers also met finance minister Paudel and suggested that the government take steps to bring down bank interest rates by 2 percent and defer the guidelines on working capital by two years to raise the confidence of the private sector. CNI President Agrawal urged the finance minister to implement the six unimplemented industrial zones on the model of India's Rudrapur Industrial Zone as soon as possible through the public-private partnership to encourage import-substituting industries. Govt will take all possible measures: FinMin Poudel Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has assured the private sector that the new government has started working to resolve the problems of the economy. Poudel made such a remark during his meetings with the representatives of the FNCCI and CNI on Tuesday. Stating that the economy has not gone out of control, Poudel pledged that the government would take all possible measures to bring it back on track. “The very first meeting of the newly formed cabinet of ministers decided to take various steps to improve the economy,” said Poudel. Urging the private sector to work with high morale, he promised to extend all sorts of possible support to the private sector.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 11. 81 points to close at 1,972.15 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 4. 72 points to close at 381. 32 points. A total of 6,530,415 unit shares of 257 companies were traded for Rs 2. 15 billion. Meanwhile, Central Finance Co. Ltd, Prabhu Life Insurance Limited and Dhaulagiri Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10 percent. Likewise, Mahuli Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 20 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 85 trillion.

Advocate Dr Dinmani Pokharel has been appointed to the post of attorney general. President Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Pokharel to the post as per Article 157 (2) of the Constitution on Wednesday, Sagar Acharya, spokesperson at the President’s Office said. The attorney general is the chief legal advisor of the government and is appointed by the President at the recommendation of the prime minister. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had recommended Pokharel to the post on Tuesday. Pokharel was the legal advisor of the then Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar. Attorney General Khamma Bahadur Khati resigned on Monday after the formation of a new government under the leadership of CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. There is a culture of changing the legal advisor of the government with the change of the government.

Ram Sahaya Yadav has been elected the Parliamentary Party leader of the Janata Samajbadi Party on Wednesday. JSP spokesperson Manish Suman said Yadav was elected to the post unanimously. Only Yadav's nomination was filed for the election to the party's Parliamentary Party leader and the Election Committee declared him elected to the post unopposed. Yadav is elected to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament, from Bara-2. JSP Federal Council Chairman Ashok Rai and lawmakers Raj Kishor Yadav and Nawal Kishor Saha had also shown their interest in the post, but they did not file their candidacy to the post at the time of the filing of nominations. JSP has 12 lawmakers in the House of Representatives. The party has supported the government led by CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Senior leaders of the ruling coalition held a meeting at the Cityscape Apartment in Lalitpur on Wednesday. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal had reached there for the discussion. Dahal, CPN (Maoist Center) senior Vice-Chairman Narayankaji Shrestha and Nepal among others leaders discussed contemporary political issues. Dahal has been urging CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Nepal to join hands together. Prime Minister Dahal has been trying to arrange a meeting between them. Oli and Nepal held a dialogue for the first time during the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister organized in Sheetal Niwas after the party split. According to a source, Nepal and UML Vice-Chairman Bishnu Paudel, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, held a meeting on Tuesday night to rope in the former’s party in the government. The ministers of the CPN (Unified Socialist) has been piling pressure on Nepal to create an environment to join the government. Earlier on Tuesday, Nepal said that Dahal became the prime minister without informing him. “Dahal became the prime minister without informing our party. We came to know only after seeing his photo in the newspaper,” he said, adding, “I am disappointed with the behavior of Dahal. We became the victim of both Nepali Congress and Maoist Center.”  

With the formation of the new government, the private sector has become active to apprise the country's leadership about the state of the recession-mired economy. On Tuesday a Federation of Nepalese Chambers and Industry (FNCCI) delegation met with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel. Anjan Shrestha, Vice President of FNCCI was also part of the delegation. ApEx talked to Shrestha about the meetings and the demands and suggestions of FNCCI to bring the derailed economy back on track. Excerpts: How do you expect the new government to address the country's economic woes? Revitalizing the economy should be the top priority of the government. Neither the private sector nor the government or the general public can bear the brunt of the crisis anymore. There will be more problems in the economy in the coming days if the problems go unaddressed. Hence, the government needs to pay heed to the suggestions of the private sector and work proactively to resolve the issues. What issues were raised by the FNCCI delegation in the meeting with newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday?  As the country's economy is in crisis, we met the new Prime Minister to apprise him about the state of the economy and private sector. We also suggested possible steps the government should take to bring the economy on the right track. We are surrounded by the liquidity crisis in the market which has led to interest rates remaining persistently higher and has contributed to the sharp contraction in business activities. The money cycle in the market has been badly affected. How serious is the new PM to address the private sector's concerns? The PM told us that he understands the problems surrounding the economy and our concerns and stressed that reviving the economy is the government's first priority. He said the very first meeting of the Council of Ministers has made a special decision in this regard.  FNCCI also met Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel on Tuesday. What was the private sector's main agenda and what was his response? We found that he understands the problems in the economy. He told us that the government and private sector are complementary to each other. We have clearly stated our demands and have suggested ways to end the economic slowdown. We hope the new government will work seriously to take the country’s economy out of the slump.  FNCCI has been strongly demanding the deferral of the guidelines on working capital loans. How does the private sector not want this monetary arrangement to be implemented? The postponement of guidelines on working capital loans is our main demand. Given the current situation where most business activities have almost stagnated, it is not possible to implement the guidelines. So, we have been demanding that its implementation should be deferred by at least two years. What is the current status revenue collection ?  The government's revenue collection has declined mainly due to weakening demands and a slowdown in business activities. The businessmen are struggling to repay the banks' interest rates and loan installments. Hence, our demand is to extend the deadline. Automobiles are one of the major verticals of your business group. The government has recently lifted restrictions on automobile imports. Have importers started to open Letters of Credit (LC) to import vehicles? Importers are gradually opening the LCs after the government lifted import restrictions. However, there is no enthusiasm in the automobile sector at the moment. Except for electric vehicles, the demand is depressed in the market. The automobile business will not bounce back until there is sufficient liquidity in the banking system to finance the auto loans.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 400 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 101, 100 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 100, 700 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 100, 600 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver is increased by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1, 400 per tola today.