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The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged the visiting Japanese Members of Parliament (MPs) to bring in more investment to Nepal from Japan.

Members of the Upper House of the Parliament of Japan as well as the members of the Nepal-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group Kobayashi Kazuhiro and Nagai Manbu are on Nepal visit.

During the meeting with the NCC team on Thursday, the NCC representatives asked the Japanese MPs for their initiatives to increase Japanese investment in Nepal adding that diplomatic and economic relations between Nepal and Japan are historical.  

On the occasion, NCC Chairman Rajendra Malla said that mutual cooperation between Nepal and Japan should be further strengthened through increased investment and business partnership.

Malla also requested the Japanese MPs to create an environment for more investment in Nepal's hydropower, infrastructure, tourist and technology sectors. 

He said that technology transfer in agriculture would help Nepal to get more benefits.

Nepal’s foreign trade has declined in the first month of the current fiscal year 2023/24. According to the latest foreign trade statistics released by the Department of Customs, both imports and exports declined in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August). The imports shrunk by 1.56 percent in Shrawan as the country imported goods worth 129.23bn in Shrawan. The imports in the first month of 2022/23 stood at Rs 131.28bn. On the other hand, Nepal’s exports decreased by 8.65 percent to Rs 13.52bn. The country had exported goods worth Rs 14.80bn in the first month of 2022/23. With both imports and exports declining, the country’s total foreign trade decreased by 2.28 percent.

According to the Customs Department, there has been a big decline in the import of petroleum products in Shrawan. The country’s petroleum products’ import bills stood at Rs 21.98bn compared to Rs 25bn during the same period of the last fiscal.

There has been growth in the imports of iron and steel compared to the last fiscal. Nepal imported iron and steel worth Rs 12.95bn in this Shrawan compared to Rs 11.23bn in the last Shrawan. The country’s vegetable imports stood at Rs 2.5bn, medicine imports at Rs 2.81bn and vehicle imports at Rs 4.29bn.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 31. 52 points to close at 2,013.93 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 4. 72 points to close at 385. 56 points.

A total of 4,657,137-unit shares of 275 companies were traded for Rs 1. 55 billion.

Meanwhile, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. Likewise, Molung Hydropower Company Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 8. 54 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 01 trillion.

With the contraction in economic activities, digital payments in Nepal have taken a beating in the last fiscal year. While the expansion of retail digital payments remains stable, there was a reduction in the high-volume digital transactions primarily conducted through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) during the fiscal year 2022/23.

According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), overall digital payment has declined by 13.22 percent in 2022/23. The NRB data shows total digital payments amounted to Rs 51640.88bn in 2022/23 compared to Rs 59508.837bn in 2021/22. As high-volume transactions have declined, NRB said that the decline in RTGS has affected the overall digital payments in this fiscal.

The latest statistics of the NRB show RTGS payments plummeted by 18.61 percent in 2022/23. In the review period, the settlements amounted to Rs 34,289.977bn compared to Rs 42,134.018bn in 2021/22.

An RTGS is a funds transfer system in which the transfer of funds between one bank and another takes place in ‘real-time’ and on a ‘gross’—transaction by transaction basis. The NRB data shows RTGS transactions increased in the first three months of the current fiscal year, then started to decline gradually.

However, retail payments through wallets, QR codes, mobile banking, and ConnectIPS surged in the current fiscal year, according to NRB. The payment through ConnectIPS grew by 33.51 percent in the last fiscal year. According to NRB, payments worth Rs 4,114.628bn were made through ConnectIPS in 2022/23 compared to Rs 3,081.764bn in 2021/22. Similarly, mobile banking transactions surged by 80.64 percent to Rs 2,185.999bn in 2022/23 from Rs 1,210.134bn in 2021/22. There has been a whopping 159.67 percent growth in QR payments in the last fiscal year as Nepalis made payments totaling Rs 245.412bn.

Digital payments which were on an increasing trend till 2021/22, reversed in 2022/23. Bankers and experts point out the current economic slowdown for this. According to them, the spending capacity of consumers has been hard hit by rising inflation resulting in a decline in digital payments.

Guru Prasad Paudel, Chief of the Payment System Department at NRB, has said that the reduction in digital transactions reflects the economic activity’s contraction. “The decline in payments through RTGS has led to a decrease in overall digital transactions,” said Paudel.

There was a significant surge in digital transactions in Nepal in early 2020 following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdowns compelled individuals to remain indoors, leading to the swift adoption of digital payment methods and online shopping for daily necessities. This shift was supported by the growing utilization of smartphones, with e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) transactions emerging as notable trends.

Post-pandemic, digital platforms including connectIPS, e-wallets, mobile banking, internet banking, QR codes, and bank cards are being used widely as customers can use these instruments in self-service mode.