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Sajha Yatayat has expanded its transportation services in Kathmandu Valley by introducing 40 electric buses and establishing 24 charging stations.

Following the government investment of Rs 3bn, allocated during the tenure of former Prime Minister KP Oli, Sajha has decided to spend the sum into three parts. Sajha Chairman Kanakmani Dixit said that in the first phase, 40 electric buses and 24 charging depots have been put into operation. These nine-meter-long electric buses can accommodate up to 50 passengers.

In addition, Dixit emphasized that Sajha Yatayat buses will traverse both inner and outer roads of the Kathmandu Valley in this initial phase.

A common charging counter for electric buses is situated at the Pulchowk-based Sajha Yatayat office. Furthermore, two charging points have been established at the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) head office for use by Sajha Yatayat.

Moreover, Dixit announced that Sajha Yatayat has commenced the procurement process for 12-meter electric buses through an international tender.

The inauguration of the buses and charging stations was conducted by Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Raghubir Mahaseth. He highlighted that the plan to operate electric buses through Sajha Yatayat, initiated by the KP Oli government four years ago, has now come to fruition. Mahaseth stressed the importance of electric transport in promoting environmental cleanliness and reducing trade losses.

Kulman Ghising, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority, noted that the operating cost of electric vehicles is 10 times cheaper than diesel and petrol vehicles. He expressed confidence that Sajha’s promotion of electric vehicles in mass transportation would soon prove profitable. Similarly, Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan assured ongoing support for Sajha Yatayat from the metropolis, indicating that funds have been allocated for the operation of electric buses within the city.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said discussions were underway at the political level to end the deadlock of the House of Representatives and it would be resolved soon.

Talking briefly to mediapersons at Biratnagar today, Prime Minister Dahal shared that the recent impasse would be resolved through political discussion.

He expressed the belief that problems could be resolved by studying the overall issue related to cooperatives and the topic concerning Rastriya Swatantra Party President and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane separately.

"Formation of a parliamentary probe committee has been demanded keeping Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane at center, which cannot be addressed," the PM said.

Stating that the opposition parties have been making the problems seen in the cooperative sector as a political issue rather than solving it after the change in the political alliance, PM Dahal underlined, "Earlier, the Nepali Congress was with us in the government. The issue of cooperatives was minor for them at that time. After exiting from the government, formation of a parliamentary probe committee has been demanded keeping Rabi Lamichhane in the center. It is based on political prejudice."

He clarified that the efforts made to break the existing political equation would not be successful.

Global goods trade is expected to pick up gradually this year following a contraction in 2023 that was driven by the lingering effects of high energy prices and inflation, WTO economists said in a new forecast on April 10. The volume of world merchandise trade should increase by 2.6 percent in 2024 and 3.3 percent in 2025 after falling 1.2 percent in 2023. However, regional conflicts, geopolitical tensions and economic policy uncertainty pose substantial downside risks to the forecast. 

In the latest ‘Global Trade Outlook and Statistics’ report, WTO economists note that inflationary pressures are expected to abate this year, allowing real incomes to grow again—particularly in advanced economies—thus providing a boost to the consumption of manufactured goods. A recovery of demand for tradable goods in 2024 is already evident, with indices of new export orders pointing to improving conditions for trade at the start of the year.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: “We are making progress towards global trade recovery, thanks to resilient supply chains and a solid multilateral trading framework—which are vital for improving livelihoods and welfare. It’s imperative that we mitigate risks like geopolitical strife and trade fragmentation to maintain economic growth and stability.”

High energy prices and inflation continued to weigh heavily on demand for manufactured goods, resulting in a 1.2 percent decline in world merchandise trade volume for 2023. The decline was larger in value terms, with merchandise exports down five percent to $24.01trn. Trade developments on the services side were more upbeat, with commercial services exports up nine percent to $7.54trn, partly offsetting the decline in goods trade. 

Import volumes were down in most regions but especially in Europe, where they fell sharply. The main exceptions were large fuel-exporting economies, whose imports were sustained by strong export revenues as energy prices remained high by historical standards. World trade remained well above its pre-pandemic level throughout 2023. By the fourth quarter it was nearly unchanged compared to the same period in 2022 (+0.1 percent) and had only risen slightly compared to the same period in 2021 (+0.5 percent).

The report further estimates global GDP growth at market exchange rates will remain mostly stable over the next two years at 2.6 percent in 2024 and 2.7 percent in 2025, after slowing to 2.7 percent in 2023 from 3.1 percent in 2022. The contrast between the steady growth of real GDP and the slowdown in real merchandise trade volume is linked to inflationary pressures, which had a downward effect on consumption of trade-intensive goods, particularly in Europe and North America. 

Downside risks

Moving forward, the report warns that geopolitical tensions and policy uncertainty could limit the extent of the trade rebound. Food and energy prices could again be subject to price spikes linked to geopolitical events. The report’s special analytical section on the Red Sea crisis notes that while the economic impact of the Suez Canal disruptions stemming from the Middle East conflict has so far been relatively limited, some sectors, such as automotive products, fertilizers and retail, have already been affected by delays and freight costs hikes. 

The report furthermore presents new data indicating that geopolitical tensions have affected trade patterns marginally but have not triggered a sustained trend toward de-globalization. Bilateral trade between the United States and China, which reached a record high in 2022, grew 30 percent less in 2023 than did their trade with the rest of the world. Moreover, for the whole of 2023, global trade in non-fuel intermediate goods—which provides a useful gauge of the status of global value chains—was down six percent. 

Signs of fragmentation may also be emerging in services trade: US imports of information, computer, and telecommunications (ICT) services from North American trading partners (mostly Canada) increased from 15.7 percent of total ICT imports in 2018 to 23.0 percent in 2023 while US imports of the same from Asian trading partners (mostly India) fell from 45.1 percent to 32.6 percent. Fragmentation of data flow policies along geopolitical lines, moreover, could cause global trade of goods and services in real terms to fall by 1.8 percent and global GDP to decline by one percent according to estimates from a forthcoming study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the WTO.

WTO Chief Economist Ralph Ossa said: “Some governments have become more skeptical about the benefits of trade and have taken steps aimed at re-shoring production and shifting trade towards friendly nations. The resilience of trade is also being tested by disruptions on two of the world's main shipping routes: the Panama Canal, which is affected by freshwater shortages, and the diversion of traffic away from the Red Sea. Under these conditions of sustained disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and policy uncertainty, risks to the trade outlook are tilted to the downside.”

Regional trade outlook

If current projections hold, Africa’s exports will grow faster than those of any other region in 2024, up 5.3 percent; this however is from a low base, since the continent's exports remained depressed after the Covid-19 pandemic. The CIS the region’s expected growth is just slightly below 5.3 percent, also from a reduced base after the region's exports plunged following the war in Ukraine. North America (3.6 percent), the Middle East (3.5 percent) and Asia (3.4 percent) should all see moderate export growth, while South America is expected to grow more slowly, at 2.6 percent. European exports are once again expected to lag behind those of other regions, with growth of just 1.7 percent.

Strong import volume growth of 5.6 percent in Asia and 4.4 percent in Africa should help prop up global demand for traded goods this year. However, all other regions are expected to see below average import growth, including South America (2.7 percent), the Middle East (1.2 percent), North America (1.0 percent), Europe (0.1 percent) and the CIS region (-3.8 percent).

Merchandise exports of least-developed countries (LDCs) are forecasted to grow 2.7 percent in 2024, down from 4.1 percent in 2023, before growth accelerates to 4.2 percent in 2025. Meanwhile, imports by LDCs should grow 6.0 percent this year and 6.8 percent next year following a 3.5 percentcontraction 

Trade in services

World commercial services trade grew nine percent in 2023 despite a decline in freight transport, thanks to recovering international travel and surging digitally delivered services. In 2024, sports events to be held in Europe in the summer, as well as the easing of visa requirements by various countries, are expected to boost tourism and passenger transport.

Global exports of digitally delivered services soared to $4.25trn in 2023, up nine percent year-on-year, and accounted for 13.8 percent of world exports of goods and services. In 2023, the value of these services—traded over borders through computer networks and encompassing everything from professional and management services to streaming of music and videos, online gaming, and remote education—surpassed pre-pandemic levels by over 50 percent. In Europe and Asia, which hold a global market share of 52.4 percent and 23.8 percent respectively, exports rose by 11 percent and 9 percent. Growth accelerated in Africa (13 percent) and in South and Central America and the Caribbean (11 percent), exceeding the global average. The two regions, which formed only 0.9 percent and 1.6 percent of global exports in 2023, are on the path to take advantage of digitally delivered services trade.

The WTO has released a new dataset on trade in services by mode of supply as in the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It provides valuable insights on how services trade has modified over the years, including the impact of digitalization and of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 This dataset as well as the latest estimates on digitally delivered services trade and service trade in general can be visualized and downloaded in the Global Services Trade Data Hub. The newly launched Global Services Trade Data Hub gives access to comprehensive WTO services trade data. It provides visualizations and customizable features catering to the diverse needs of trade negotiators, analysts, researchers, and decision-makers, to derive insights.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 136, 600 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 136, 800 per tola on Wednesday.

Similarly, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 135, 950 per tola. It was traded at Rs 136, 150 per tola.

Meanwhile, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,700 per tola today.

The Janak Education Materials Center (JEMC) has delivered textbooks to all 77 districts three days before the start of the new educational session.

Center's Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha said that the books of all subjects have been printed at nine outlets in different parts of the country for the academic year 2081 BS.

According to the schedule published by the Center, textbooks have been sold out from Biratnagar, Janakpur, Sanothimi-based central offices, Bharatpur, Pokhara, Butwal, Nepalgunj, Surkhet and Dhangadhi from March 26 to April 10.

"We have completed the responsibility to deliver textbooks to districts on time with utmost efforts", he shared, adding textbooks will now be made available to the students through the distributors.

Managing Director Jha said, "Maybe they do not need to hear complaints this time about delay delivery of books to the hands of the students.

The JEMC has also made public the price list of the textbooks from grade 3 to 12 for the upcoming educational session. Additionally, the Centre has also made public the price list of classified distributors for each province.

Last year, books were made available in the market before the academic year.  Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had been motivating the concerned bodies for timely distribution of textbooks, while this year Education Minister Sumana Shrestha has inspected the office and press office of the Center in Bhaktapur and directed to provide the books on time.

The student enrollment campaign for the new academic session is going to start across the country from April 14. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Center for Education and Human Resource Development has urged the local levels and other stakeholders to prepare and implement the student enrollment campaign facilitation action plan.

The 'Nepal Police mobile application', operated by the Nepal Police for making citizen service and crime investigation effective by internalizing innovative development in the technology sector, has gained momentum.

With easy access to smartphones and other mobile devices, the use of mobile apps is also increasing. The 'Nepal Police Mobile App', which has been used to collect and disseminate information and messages, has enabled the general public to use the facility of providing information with location to the police whenever they became victims or as eyewitnesses to an incident.

Nepal Police Spokesperson, Deputy Inspector General Bhim Prasad Dhakal, said it has helped the police to reach the spot and perform effectively.

He said the mobile app has helped in crime investigation by getting authentic information like 'audio', photo and 'video'. Using this app, the general public can transmit photos, videos, audio and text based on the 'Global Positioning System' (GPS).

He shared, "The app has been launched on a trial basis with the objective of institutionalizing the work of Nepal Police as a technology-friendly service. At present, arrangements have been made to mobilize the police from the nearest police office immediately on the basis of complaints and information received through the police app in all 77 districts.

The app is useful for speedy dissemination of criminal activities, other incidents and accidents and information in the community, to control the criminals immediately and to maintain law and order.

Thamel, a major foreign tourist hub in Kathmandu, will remain operational 24 hours from April 13.

According to the Thamel Tourism Development Council, preparation has been made for the announcement of full-time (24 hours) business operations in Thamel and Durbar Marga areas from April 13, Nepali New Year.

Council Chairperson Bhabiswor Sharma said all necessary preparation has been made to keep Thamel and Durbar Marga areas open round the clock.

The District Administration Office, Kathmandu will take the responsibility for maintaining security and other management in the area.

Assistant Chief District Officer of Kathmandu, Hari Prasad Sharma said security related preparation has been made to enforce the announcement allowing night-time business operations in Thamel and Durbar Marga areas.

Sharma further said safety and security protocols for 24-hour business operations have been made on the basis of recommendations of all stakeholders.

All the market outlets related to tourism, including club, dance and disco will remain open.

Council Chair Sharma shared that night-time business will be operational in all areas of Thamel apart from Bhagawanbahal in consultation and coordination with all stakeholders.

The businesses that fail to meet the criteria/standards according to the code of conduct will be closed from April 14.

Muslims across the country are celebrating Edi-ul-Fitr with zest and zeal today.

The great festival of the Islamic community is being observed with great gaiety and gusto by reciting special Namaz, offering prayers in mosques, receiving blessings from the elders and giving blessings to juniors.

The festival marks the conclusion of a month-long fasting of the Muslims during the month of Ramadan, falls on the first day of the tenth month according to the Arabic calendar.

The festival is celebrated on the next day after the completion of the 30-day fast. Muslim Commission Chairperson Samim Mian Ansari shared that it was decided to celebrate Eid today as the moon was not sighted on Wednesday.

According to the Muslim religion, there are five pillars namely 'Roza', 'Zakat', 'Hajj', 'Namaz' and 'Kalama'.

Ramadan is considered a holy month. "Zakat (donation) is given in this month," he said, adding, "We consider this month to be the month of earning virtue" This festival is celebrated on Eid-ul-Fitr by eating 'Sevai' and offering Namaz collectively.

On this day, Muslims devotees converge mainly in the mosque or any outdoor location in the early morning for Eid prayer and break their fast feasting on delicacies.

Families and friends gather to mark the end of a month-long fast 'Ramadan' and exchange Eid Mubarak (greetings) as well as gifts.

According to the National Census-2078, the Muslim community shares 5.9 percent of the total population of Nepal. Noting the data was incomplete, he said the commission was planning to study the social, economic, political, cultural and educational conditions of the Muslim community and submit the actual details to the government.

Although there is a mosque for Muslims in Kathmandu, it lacks spacious meeting halls to offer Namaz and for cultural activities together, he complained.