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The country’s external sector has shown encouraging signs of improvement that began in the third month of the current fiscal year and has continued also in the fourth month. The latest macroeconomic report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows the balance of payment (BOP), remittance inflow and forex reserves all have increased, offering some level of respite to the government. According to the report, Nepal’s balance of payments (BOP) is at a surplus of Rs 20.03bn in the first four months of FY 2022/23 compared to a deficit of Rs 150.38bn in the same period of FY 2021/22. The BoP had turned surplus in mid-October after a gap of 14 months. Similarly, forex reserves have increased by 2.5 percent to Rs 1,246.27 billion in mid-November 2022 from Rs 1,215.80bn in mid-July 2022. In US dollar terms, the gross forex reserves increased 1.0 percent to 9.63 billion in mid-November from Rs 9.54bn in mid-July this year. The country's forex reserves started to improve from the second month (mid-August-mid-September). With forex reserves depleting last year, the government was forced to intervene, introducing measures such as restrictions on the import of different types of goods for almost eight months. The import restrictions were lifted two weeks ago. According to NRB, the forex reserve is sufficient to cover the merchandise imports for 9.7 months, and merchandise and services imports for 8.4 months. At a time when the country’s banking system is grappling with a prolonged liquidity crunch, the impressive growth in the remittance inflow has given some breathing space to bankers. The central bank said remittance inflow has increased by 20.4 percent in the first four months against a decline of seven percent in the last fiscal. Nepal has received Rs 378.04bn in remittances till mid-November, 2022. While the data shows the external sector is slowly recovering, economists cast doubt on the sustainability of the progress. "The external sector improved when the government imposed a ban on certain products. We have to see if the situation will be the same in the next three months," said Keshav Acharya, former Executive Director of NRB. "Also, exports are declining at a massive rate. And even when there were restrictions, Nepal imported goods worth more than Rs 100 billion every month. The foreign assistance, as pledged by the foreign community, is also not improving," he said. Inflation still on the higher side The NRB report shows inflation has remained persistently higher. The consumer inflation is at 8.08 percent till mid-November. Food and beverage inflation stood at 7.38 percent whereas non-food and service inflation rose to 8.63 percent. Under the food and beverage category, the price of restaurants and hotels has increased by 15.97 percent, tobacco products by 11.81 percent, milk products & eggs by 9.33 percent, cereal grains & their products by 9.19 percent, and alcoholic drinks by 8.84 percent. The country’s major economic indicators Balance of Payment Surplus by Rs 20.03bn Forex Reserves Rs 1,246.27bn (up by 2.5 percent) Remittance                           Rs 378.04bn (Up by 20.4 percent) Tourism Income Rs 17.95bn (up by 137 percent) Foreign Travelling bill Rs 33.06bn (up by 63.8 percent) Abroad Education Bill Rs 22.61bn (up by 111.3 percent) Foreign Direct Investment Rs 429.2m (down by 93.5 percent)

Land revenue offices across the country do not have a good reputation. They are perceived to be one of the most corrupt government offices, thanks to nexus between government officials and middlemen to fleece service-seekers. Tasked with responsibilities like land sale, purchase and collection of land taxes, these offices have become a hub for corruption. Even government-conducted studies show corruption thriving in these offices. Alarmingly, irregularities are rife in these offices despite a series of government measures to curb corruption.  Middlemen operating around these offices are one of the most visible indications of illegal transactions taking place there.  In 2021, the government issued a circular to prohibit middlemen from entering the offices to control irregularities there. But the circular largely remains unimplemented. Shyam Prasad Bhandari, Spokesperson for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), says there is a high degree of corruption in the offices related to land revenue and management. According to the annual report (2021-22) of CIAA, of all government offices across the country, government offices in the Bagmati Province have had the highest number of complaints registered against them. According to the report, 33% complaints are related to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, including local governments, while land-related offices stand in the second position with 8 percent complaints. As we receive more public complaints from those offices, we have managed a separate section with more human resources, Bhandari said. The operation of these offices is so cumbersome that service-seekers cannot get their work done without involving middlemen. The middlemen ‘help’ service-seekers with official work by charging certain fees, which they use to bribe officials and line up their own pockets. Several irregularities like registration of public land in the name of individuals, 'creation' of fake owners by forging documents, and land plotting have been carried out with the involvement of concerned officials.  Former CIAA Chief Nabin Ghimire had once said that revenue offices would be without staffers if action were initiated against corrupt officials. This statement also paints an alarming picture of deep-rooted corruption in these offices.   CIAA frequently conducts sting operations at land revenue and survey offices. There are many instances of officials caught taking bribe. A few years ago, CIAA had field cases against officials of land revenue offices in Chabahil, Dillibazaar and Jhapa, en masse.  Public fed up This week, ApEx conducted a survey at some of the land revenue offices in the Kathmandu valley. Findings of the study show that corruption has not gone down. Alarmingly, the study shows that both officials and middleman are using more cunning ways to line up their pockets by fleecing the public. The lack of action against corrupt officials has dampened the spirits of service-seekers.  In course of the survey, some service-seekers confided that they have stopped complaining about bribes they give to officials and middlemen because they do not want to spoil their relations with middlemen. Due to public complaints and intervention from CIAA and other anti-corruption agencies, there has been some improvement in service delivery but corruption has not gone down. Land revenue offices have a decades-long history.  The Mal Adda (Land Office) was established in 1953, while the Pota Registration Addha -- land tax registration office -- came into existence in 1978. The latter was responsible for approving written documents related to the ownership, sale and purchase of land, etc. The Survey Department and the Department of Land Revenue were established in 1957 and 1959, respectively. District land revenue offices were established after the political division of Nepal into 75 districts. In terms of cleaning up their tarnished image, land revenue and management offices have a long way to go.    Alarming picture Of all government offices, offices in the Bagmati Province have the highest number of complaints registered against them, per the annual report (2021-22) of CIAA. Thirty-three percent complaints are related to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, including local governments, while land-related offices come second with 8 percent complaints. An APEX survey has found that graft has not gone down in land revenue offices. Peoplespeak Rajkumar Karki  My stationery has been around the LRO Dillibazaar for the past 10 years. It’s been a while, the place is not as full as it used to be. It is because banks have not been giving enough loan, and there has been no kitta kat (land plotting). So, there are only minimal people visiting.  Dr Dhiraj Shrestha  I have been visting the LRO Dillibazaar for the past 2 weeks and none of my work has been done yet despite a lot of back and forth. I am on leave from my work and I have patients to look after. There are only a few people in the information desk, and no one is willing to help us out in times of confusion.  Jibrail Sheikh Because there aren’t many service-seekers, my work is going quite smoothly. Everyone has been helpful and I have not hit a snag so far.

The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the final results of the election to the House of Representatives held on Nov 20. As per final outcome of the poll, 12 parties will have their representatives in the HoR. Seven of these parties have become national parties.

They are Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, and Nepal Janamat Party. 

The Nepali Congress has become the largest party with 79 seats—57 under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system and 32 under the proportional representation (PR) category. The CPN-UML won 78 seats—44 FPTP and 34 PR—to become the second largest party. The Maoist Center came a distant third with 32 seats.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party won 20 and 14 seats respectively.  Likewise, the Janata Samajbadi Party and Nepal Janamat Party secured 12 and six spots in the HoR. Besides these seven national parties, the Nagarki Unmukti Party, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Rastriya Janamorcha and five independents will also show their participation in parliament. 

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has informed that the election results of seven provincial assemblies will be announced on Saturday (Dec 17). The poll body is scheduled to submit the report of the final results of the elections to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday.

CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal held separate meetings with Nepal Samajbadi Party Chairman Baburam Bhattarai and Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand to discuss power sharing and to chart out a future strategy. On the occasion, the leaders discussed power sharing and the role of coalition, a Khumaltar source said. Recently, Dahal has intensified meetings with leaders of various political parties to ask them to help him in the prime ministerial race. Earlier on December 5, a meeting of the ruling coalition had decided to form a new government from the incumbent alliance. But, the Maoist Center leaders have intensified meetings and behind-the-curtain negotiations at present to form the new government under their party's leadership. Also Read: Dahal’s power grab ploy Dahal has been urging the Nepali Congress leaders to help him become the prime minister in the first phase after the elections, saying that he made Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba the prime minister by his efforts following a dispute in the Nepal Communist Party. A way to form a new government has been opened after the Election Commission submitted the election results report to President Bidya Devi Bhandari today. There is a provision that the President has to a Parliament meeting after the government recommends the date to the President to convene a meeting of the House of Representatives.  

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 700 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 100, 300 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 101, 000 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 99, 800 per tola today. Similarly, the price of silver has decreased by Rs 20 and is being traded at Rs 1, 380 per tola.

The Election Commission submitted the election results report to President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya handed over the report to President Bhandari this afternoon. The CEC presented the report to the President as per House of Representatives Election Act, 2074 (62), Sagar Acharya, spokesperson at the President’s office, said. Election Commission office bearers were also present in the program. There is a provision that the EC should submit the report with final results of the FPTP and PR system within seven days of the announcement of the election results to the President. On the occasion, President Bhandari said that the election is important for strengthening democracy. Expressing her happiness over the conclusion of the elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Province Assembly (PA), she thanked all including the Election Commission, security bodies, stakeholders and voters for this. Similarly, CEO Thapaliya said that  the polls were concluded in a fair and fearless environment. As many as 184 men (66.90 per cent) and 91 women (33.10 per cent) were elected as members of the House of Representatives. Similarly, a total of 350 (63.64 per cent) men and 200 (36.36 per cent) women were elected as members of seven provincial assemblies. A total of 2,411 candidates contested the parliamentary election under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system. Of them, 225 women and 2,191 candidates contested the PR election. Of them, 1,187 women. Similarly, a total of 3,224 candidates contested the provincial assembly elections under the FPTP system. Of them, 280 were women and 3,708 candidates, including 1, 511 women, contested election under the PR system. A total of 11, 542 candidates contested the parliamentary and province assembly elections.

The government has lifted the restrictions imposed on the import of vehicles including jeeps, cars, and vans, which has been in place since April 27, starting from Dec 16. However, this announcement has failed to quell the disquiet of automobile importers and dealers who have put forth several demands to the government as well as the central bank.   NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal, the umbrella organization of automobile importers and dealers in Nepal, announced to protest against the government even when the import ban was lifted on Dec 6. NADA office bearers say they will continue their protest until all of their demands are met. ApEx talked to Dhruba Thapa, president of the association in this context. Excerpts: The government has lifted import restrictions on the import of automobiles. Yet, NADA is on the street, continuing the protest. Why has NADA continued the agitation? Though the import restrictions have been lifted, there is no environment in terms of doing business. There has not been any support from the government and departments concerned. The 50 percent margin in opening the letter of credit (LC) for importing vehicles is still in place. That means, we have to deposit millions of rupees in the bank for months without any interest. This should be lifted too.  There is no risk in automobile financing, yet the loan-to-value ratio has been set at 150 percent. Due to this, the banks hesitate in automobile financing. Also, the Nepal Rastra Bank has made it mandatory for financial institutions that they can only look up to 50 percent of the financing in private vehicles. This too should be lifted as it should rely on banks-customers relations and trust. Hence, our protests are still going on.  What do the government and the central bank need to do to stop a further slump in the automobile market? As the automobile business has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession, the government should help us to flourish by lifting all restrictions and providing subsidies to auto businesses.  I don’t think NADA has asked for anything impossible. We are flexible in bank interest rate as it is often determined by the market. Our demands are the need of the hour if the concerned authorities want to see this sector boom and help traders, sellers, and customers.   As import restrictions have been lifted, how long would it take for the auto sector to return to its usual business cycle? Even if the government and the central bank immediately meet our demands, I think it will still take at least a year for normalcy to return to the automobile market. The economic slowdown and liquidity crisis coupled with the higher inflation rate and bank interest rate have hampered us a lot as the customers are not in a position to buy vehicles.  What was the impact of the eight-month-long import restrictions on the automobile sector? Many traders and dealers have already left this sector after incurring huge financial losses and many are in the process to leave as soon which of course will lead to thousands of people becoming jobless. Automobile importers and dealers are not only facing the impacts. The government itself had lost a large source of revenue generation as the custom tariff on automobiles is around 250 to 300 percent. And I think, due to this reason too, the government had to lift the import ban.  How much revenue did the government lose due to the import restrictions? In the last fiscal year, we spent around Rs 90bn on customs duties and other expenses. So, I think, the government lost at least Rs 40bn in this period.  With the government lifting the import ban, when will authorized auto dealers start importing new vehicles? When will the consumers get the new models? By completing the process, in around two months, new and demanded models of vehicles will be available in the market.  While the government stopped the import of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, it allowed electric vehicle imports during this period. The government data also shows a huge surge in the imports of electric vehicles. What do you think will be the market for EVs in Nepal? Not only in Nepal, but globally, electric vehicles (EVs) are the future of automobiles. That doesn’t mean electricity will replace petroleum products immediately. But the process has already started.  Nepal has a good and growing market for EVs. I see that we have not been able to meet the demands of customers. But this is a global problem due to the lower production rate. I guess that in the next five years, around 50 percent of the import of cars and two-wheelers will be EVs. 

You might imagine that Kathmandu residents do not experience natural disasters like landslides and floods, but this is not the case. Residents of various sections of Kathmandu see their homes flooded during the monsoon season. They are the inhabitants of squatter communities living along the banks of Bagmati and Manohara, among other rivers that flow within Kathmandu Valley. These people lose their food, clothing, and shelters during the monsoon season each year. Sometimes their crucial documents are lost or damaged as well.  The settlements that are most vulnerable to flooding are in Banshighat, Sinamangal, and Manohara. Youth Hub, a group comprising young people living in flood-prone neighborhoods of the valley, identified these areas. And to mitigate the effects of flood, they have been teaching the concerned locals how to create ‘go bags’.  A go bag is essentially an emergency kit containing critical documents, dry food and clothing that can come handy in times of disasters. Youth Hub began this project after the monsoon season of last year, and about 105 people living in Kathmandu’s flood-prone areas were taught how to create go bags.   Anju Dewali, a resident of Banshighat, was one of the training participants. She says her family suffers hardship every monsoon as floodwaters submerge her settlement, damaging food, clothes, valuable items, and documents.  “We had to visit various government offices to make the documents damaged by the flood,” she says. “But now that we have been taught to prepare a go bag, I’m hopeful that some of the important paperwork will at least remain safe in the event of a flood.” The initiative of Youth Hub has also received support from Ward 10 of Budhanilkantha Municipality. The ward office had donated Rs 150,000 to support their work last year.  Nawaraj Bhattarai, the former ward chair of the municipality, says the money was given to help youngsters build their capacity for humanitarian aid.  With the money, a youth training session was carried out in March. The training also helped encourage the participation of female youths in humanitarian activities. Youth activism has also played a crucial role in disaster mitigation and emergency aid work in other parts of the country. Take Dhangadhimai Municipality, Aurahi Rural Municipality and other villages of Siraha district for example. Every summer, at least 10 families in these areas used to suffer loss of properties in fire-related incidents. But thanks to the fire prevention campaign launched by a local youth group, there were no fire incidents in the two municipalities last year.  To raise awareness about fire related disasters, the local youths perform a folk dance called ‘Dholho Pipihi’ which is accompanied by songs that promote fire safety.  Because of constant youth advocacy, Dhangadhimai Municipality has developed a disaster management policy and allocated funds to reduce fire-related incidents in communities. As part of the fire mitigation program, a survey was also conducted in Dhangadhimai Municipality-14. Aurhi Rural Municipality has also followed suit of Dhangadhimai Municipality by allocating funds for the mitigation of fire-related disasters.  All of these tasks have been aided by the partner organizations, Dalit Janakalyan Youth Club and Red Cross Society. Elsewhere in Bardiya, when a sudden rainstorm lashed the district at the end of October last year, large swathes of paddy farm were damaged or destroyed. Rajapur Municipality was particularly hit hard. Besides the loss of crops, many families were also rendered homeless. Again, it was youths who came to the aid of these families. They worked together with the local government to move the displaced families to a secure location and provide them with food.  The youths also spent three days working in the field to assist the farming community in drying, moving, and storing the paddy grains. They further coordinated with the local government to provide emergency relief to the families who were affected by flooding as a result of the rainstorm.  In Parsa, Samanata Youth Hub has been raising awareness among communities against the impacts of floods. They have been focusing their drive in the neighborhoods of Paterwa Sugauli Rural Municipality. The drive includes distribution of flyers and putting up banners in the flood-affected areas. Youths in Palpa, too, have been playing a proactive role in disaster mitigation. To lower the risk of fire, Yuwa Sangam has been clearing fallen leaves from Tansen Bazar and burning them safely.  The Division Forest Office and the Nepal Army are supporting this effort.