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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 64.78 points to close at 2,125.84 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 14.09 points to close at 408. 72 points. A total of 8,733,542 unit shares of 258 companies were traded for Rs 3. 50 billion. Meanwhile, Salt Trading Corporation, Himalayan Distillery Limited, Kalika Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited, Mirmire Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha and Kisan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha were the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Similarly, Nepal SBI Bank Debenture was the top loser as its price fell by 1.99 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 07 trillion.

Internet service providers have warned that internet service ‘may get interrupted any time’. The Internet Service Providers’ Association of Nepal (ISPAN) on Monday said that internet service could be stopped due to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) arbitrarily fixing the rental fee for using electricity poles for internet cable connectivity. Most of Nepal’s ISPs have been using electricity poles to connect their cables to the subscribers’ homes paying certain fees to the NEA. Organizing a press conference in Kathmandu on Monday, the ISPAN has appealed to the government to intervene claiming that NEA is putting unnecessary pressure on them for not paying the pole rent which the power utility increased unilaterally. According to ISPAN, NEA has snapped the internet and cable wires in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Biratnagar, Inaruwa, Kakadbhita, Gauriganj, Pokhara, Dharan, Khotang, Surkhet, Kailali, Butwal, Tikapur, Attaria, Bhairahawa, Doti, Dhankuta and Duhabi obstructing internet services in different places across the country. As NEA has intensified its action in recent days, ISPAN warned that ISPs will be unable to operate the internet service smoothly and the services are likely to get stopped at any time across the country. ISPAN President Sudhir Parajuli said that the government-owned company (NEA), through its action, is obstructing the government’s Digital Nepal Campaign. “The government’s policy of creating a Digital Nepal cannot be fulfilled without easy access to the internet. However, a state-owned entity is showing arrogance that it can obstruct the internet,” said Parajuli. “As NEA is acting unilaterally, we will not hesitate to stop the internet services. The internet can get interrupted any time,” said Parajuli. Parajuli said though two committees have been formed to resolve the pole renting issue, the dispute has not been resolved. “It has been almost 14 months since the last committee gave its report, but NEA has not taken any decision in this regard,” said Parajuli. The committee has made it clear that the burden of fare increase should not be passed on to consumers and that this increase is against the spirit of Digital Nepal. NEA has been arguing that ISPs have been using the electricity poles but haven't paid the rental charges. According to Subash Khada, CEO of ISPAN, NEA has arbitrarily increased rental charges for using electricity poles by 700 percent without any consultation with stakeholders.  

As the government struggles to expedite capital expenditure and meet the revenue target, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday instructed the government secretaries to put all their efforts into achieving the revenue target as well as improving development expenditure. The Prime Minister, who has been meeting secretaries of various ministries since Monday, gave 30-point instructions to them on Tuesday. Dahal, who has inherited a weak economy, directed secretaries to be sensitive to the fact that the revenue is not rising as per the target and capital expenditure is weak as the end of the sixth month of the fiscal year approaches. The federal budget has set a target of Rs 1,403 billion in revenue collection for this fiscal. However, after five and half months, around a quarter of the annual target ( 25.1 percent) has been collected. Given the current state of the revenue collection, it will become difficult for the government to raise the expenditure for daily administration and development expenses. The government has spent only 27.82 percent of the budget in the first five months. According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government’s spending stood at Rs 499 billion till December-end. As per the FCGO data, the government’s capital expenditure has remained dismal. The government has utilized only 11 percent of the total capital expenditure in the first five and half months. Meanwhile, capital expenditure till December-end stood at Rs 42.45 billion. "There are some reasons for the decrease in revenue, such as economic recession, and decrease in imports. However, income tax has not been raised as per the target. "What's more, the fact that we have to wait in long queues to pay the monthly taxes shows the level of our service delivery," said Dahal. In his direction, PM Dahal asked the secretaries to think about the slow capital expenditure and urged them to bring proposals if there are any problems at the policy level. "The government's development expenditure is only 11 percent. What are the reasons for not being able to spend on development? Who is responsible? If the cause of slow development expenditure is not found and solved now, when will it be done? If there is a problem at the policy level, bring proposals for improvement based on facts," said Dahal. PM Dahal warned that weakness in the budget implementation cannot be tolerated any longer. "On the one hand, revenue has not increased as per the target and capital expenditure is low, and on the other hand, the issues of arrears are there. This has made the whole cycle of fiscal administration problematic. It is important to be sensitive about it," said Dahal. Dahal has instructed the National Planning Commission to immediately prepare a plan to speed up the pace of physical progress of development progress. According to Dahal, if the funds allocated for development projects cannot be spent, they will be transferred to projects that can be spent elsewhere, and arrangements will be made to link the work of officials who are responsible for revenue collection and development work according to the target with their performance evaluation.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 300 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 102, 900 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 102, 600 per tola on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 400 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1, 400 per tola today.