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Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is currently on a four-day official visit to the People's Republic of China, beginning Monday, and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee  of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, held a meeting today.

On the occasion, they discussed the matters relating to Nepal-China relations and mutual concerns.

Similarly, the two leaders exchanged views on activities of the CPN-UML, the political exchanges and future cooperation, according to the Prime Minister's Private Secretariat.

Prior to this, the Prime Minister paid a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Likewise, the Prime Minister's delegation held a bilateral meeting with the Chinese delegation led by Premier Li Qiang.

Prime Minister Oli arrived in China at the friendly invitation of his Chinese counterpart.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is presently on a four-day official visit to the People's Republic of China, beginning Monday, today paid a courtesy call on President of China, Xi Jinping.

During the meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on the issues relating to Nepal-China relations and mutual interests and concerns.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba, Prime Minister's Chief Political Advisor Bishnu Prasad Rimal and Economic Advisor Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Chief Secretary Eaknaryan Aryal, Acting Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, Joint Secretary Krishna Prasad Dhakaal and Nepal's Ambassador to China Krishna Prasad Oli accompanied the Prime Minister during the meeting with the Chinese President.

The Prime Minister arrived in China at the friendly invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang.

Nepal and China have signed various bilateral agreements in presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. PM Oli is presently on a four-day official visit to China, beginning Monday.

The signing of agreements followed a bilateral meeting between the premiers of both neighbors.

The documents signed and exchanged by the both sides are: Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation, Letter of Exchange on Tokha-Chhahare Tunnel, MoU on Trade Promotion Cooperation, Protocol on Requirements on Thermally Processed Buffalo Meat Products to be Exported from Nepal to China, MoU on Development Plan (2024-2029) and Letter of Exchange on Cash Assistance.

Similarly, additional agreements signed today include Handover Certificate of the Completion of the Reconstruction of Nine-storey Basantapur Tower, MoU on Volunteer Chinese Language Teachers, and MoU between Public Service Broadcasting Nepal Television and China Media Group, according to Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Krishna Prasad Dhakal.  

Spokesperson Dhakal said that both sides on the occasion held discussions on expansion of connectivity, industrial and infrastructure development, cooperation in health, agriculture, trade, tourism, investment, science and technology, sports, disaster management, people-to-people relations between the two countries and enhancement of mutual cooperation in poverty alleviation.

Sudurpaschim Royals started their journey on an encouraging note by defeating Biratnagar Kings in their first match under the Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket tournament.

Sudurpaschim Royals thrashed Biratnagar Kings by 90 runs in today's match held at Kirtipur-based TU Cricket Ground.

This is the second consecutive loss for the Biratnagar Kings in the tournament.

For Biratnagar, Bashir Ahmed scored 24 runs off 28 balls while Rajesh Pulami Magar made 15 runs off nine balls and Anil Kharel 10 runs. Other batters failed to score in double digits.

Sudurpaschim Royals' Abinash Bohara and Scott Kuggeleijn took three wickets each while Brandon McMullen and Saif Zaib claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, Sudurpaschim Royal made 182 runs in 20 overs losing seven wickets. Invited to bat first losing the toss, Captain Dipendra Singh Airee contributed 57 runs off 24 balls (not out) while Brandon McMullen 36 runs off 26 balls and Binod Bhandari 23 runs off 20 balls.

Similarly, Ishan Pandey gathered 21 runs, Aarif Sheikh nine runs and Saif Zaib14 runs.

For Biratnagar Kings, Anil Kharel took three wickets while Ismat Alam, Basir Ahmed and Crish Sole one wicket each.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 17.80 points to close at 2,775.85 points on Tuesday.

The sensitive index, however, plunged by 0.58 points to close at 471. 21 points.

A total of 18,160,634-unit shares of 307 companies were traded for Rs 8. 52 billion.

Meanwhile, Dibyashwori Hydropower Ltd. (DHPL) and Ingwa Hydropower Limited (IHL) were the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Upper Syange Hydropower Limited (USHL) was the top loser as its price fell by 9.51 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 60 trillion.

The construction of the Pokhara Water Supply Improvement Project, initiated in 2019 to provide mineral water-quality drinking water to Pokhara households, has been completed.

The project, funded with a grant of Rs 4.81bn from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was officially handed over on Friday. JICA and the Government of Nepal signed the grant agreement for the project on 15 Feb 2017, with construction beginning in 2019.

Japan’s Hazama Ando Corporation was entrusted with the project’s construction. Although work was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the initial deadline of 31 Dec 2023, was extended to Aug 31. With the project’s completion, 41m liters of water collected daily from the Mardi River in Machhapuchhre Rural Municipality are now processed through a state-of-the-art treatment plant before distribution in Pokhara. Previously, 46m liters of untreated water were distributed daily from the same source. The project adjusted its output to match the original design specifications, resulting in a 5m-liter reduction in daily distribution.

Despite the availability of treated drinking water, Pokhara continues to face water shortages. The Drinking Water Corporation has connected 52,000 households to the system. According to Ashish Karki, head of the Pokhara branch of the Drinking Water Corporation, current production stands at 62m liters daily, including water sourced from boreholes.

However, the 19 wards of Pokhara Metropolitan City require 87m liters of water per day to meet the demands of the growing population. The project did not account for this population growth during its planning phase, leading to continued shortages.

At the inauguration ceremony on Friday, Water Minister Pradeep Yadav pledged to address the remaining water scarcity through additional measures. Mayor Dhana Raj Acharya of Pokhara Metropolitan City expressed satisfaction that, for the first time, the city now has a pure and safe drinking water treatment system. He also called for new plans to resolve the ongoing water shortages, assuring the metropolis’ support in this effort.

Currently, Pokhara’s water supply includes 3.5m liters daily in the rainy season and 1m liters in the dry season from Armalasthi Bhotikhola. Another 3.5m liters in the rainy season and 1.5m liters in the dry season are sourced from Kalimuda and Majkun Muhan, distributed via the Amalabisauni tank. Additionally, 1m liters are distributed from Baldhara. Water is also extracted from 21 boreholes across the city, with a total of 62m liters supplied daily.

To address the shortages, the Drinking Water Corporation is in the process of contracting work to bring additional water from the Mardi River through a 500-mm pipeline. However, it appears residents of Pokhara will need to wait a few more years for uninterrupted, 24-hour access to clean drinking water.

Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) President Rajesh Kumar Agrawal has said the country’s economy is passing through difficult times despite positive indicators on the external sector. “Our foreign currency reserves appear stable, and the country enjoys relative comfort in goods and services imports. Inflation remains controlled, and interest rates have shown a downward trend,” Agrawal said. “However, the country’s private sector is suffering. GDP growth for the previous year was a modest 3.87 percent, with production and construction sectors demonstrating negative growth trajectories. Most critically, industries are operating at a mere 30-40 percent of their potential capacity, signaling significant economic distress.”

Agrawal identified several key challenges driving this economic slowdown. “Declining imports and exports are exerting considerable pressure on government revenues. The policy measures implemented to control international inflation and manage foreign currency reserves have inadvertently contributed to a substantial reduction in overall economic demand,” he said. “We are currently experiencing a policy-induced economic slowdown. It is absolutely critical to bring the economy out of this situation.”

Agrawal demanded proactive government intervention to cure these ills. Commending the finance ministry for including private sector representatives in the High-level Economic Sector Reform Committee led by former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal, Agrawal said the collaborative approach is crucial for developing comprehensive economic revival strategies.

He urged the government for economic reforms to reinvigorate the economy. “The current policies focused on reducing must be fundamentally reimagined. The focus should shift towards stimulating demand, which is currently at critically low levels. This demand contraction is creating a cascading effect, negatively impacting industries, creating liquidity challenges for financial institutions, and contributing to increased non-performing assets,” the CNI President added. 

Agrawal also criticized the management of institutional funds. “Funds of entities like Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Citizen Investment Trust (CIT) and Social Security Funds are currently parked in bank deposits which deliver low returns. These funds should be utilized to develop critical infrastructure projects,” Agrawal said, urging the government to increase its capital expenses significantly.

Agrawal called for a multi-dimensional approach involving short-term, medium-term, and long-term policy interventions to revitalize Nepali economy. “There should be an ecosystem that supports business growth, encourages investment and stimulates economic activity,” he added. 

He also called for strategic, forward-thinking economic policies that can revive, reinvigorate and propel Nepal’s economic landscape towards sustainable growth.

In a continued effort to manage the country’s financial system, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) absorbed
Rs 50bn from the market through a 21-day deposit collection auction on Sunday. This is the central bank’s second major liquidity absorption in recent weeks. The NRB mopped up Rs 100bn liquidity from the banking system on Nov 27. 

According to bankers and the central bank data, the banking system currently holds an unprecedented Rs 760bn in investable funds. Investable funds of banks and financial institutions are expanding in recent months with deposit collection consistently outpacing credit disbursement. 

Experts say this liquidity glut is symptomatic of broader economic challenges including weak economic activity that has significantly reduced demand for goods and services. The reduced economic activities have had cascading effects on the economy. Reduced consumer and business spending has led to decreased import volumes, which has directly impacted government revenue collection. This has forced the government to rely on public debt even to pay the salary of government employees.

Despite the central bank’s efforts to stimulate economic activity by easing monetary policy for the current fiscal year, credit demand has shown minimal improvement. As a result, the central bank kept policy rates unchanged in the first quarter review of the monetary policy for the current fiscal year on Friday. According to the central bank, the bank rate and policy rate have been maintained at 6.5 percent and five percent, respectively. The NRB has also kept the credit-deposit ratio, statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio unchanged.

The low demand for bank credit amid a slowdown in economic activities has driven interest rates to record lows. The average loan interest rate has dropped to 9.33 percent while the average deposit rate sits at 5.44 percent. Most commercial banks are now offering loans within an 8-9 percent interest rate range for the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December).

The interbank lending rate has also declined to three percent. NRB starts mopping up liquidity from the market when interbank lending rate comes down to three percent, to prevent further rate erosion. The deposit collection auction is one of the important tools that the central bank has been deploying to absorb excess liquidity. Banks also have the option to park their surplus funds in the permanent deposit facility, which offers a fixed three percent interest rate.