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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 32. 77 points to close at 2,109.10 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 6. 00 points to close at 396. 62 points.

A total of 17,172,149-unit shares of 304 companies were traded for Rs 6. 27 billion.

Meanwhile, Bottlers Nepal (Balaju) Limited, Asha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Dhaulagiri Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited, BPW Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited and Chirkhwa Hydropower Limited were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent.

Likewise, SuryaJyoti Life Insurance Company Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 7. 44 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 27 trillion.

Remittance inflows to Nepal in 2023 are expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels to reach $11bn in 2023.  According to a new report published by the World Bank the growth of 18 percent in 2023 will come on top of remittance growth of 13 percent in 2022. 

 At 27 percent, Nepal continued to have the highest share of remittances relative to GDP in South Asia

The rise in remittances is partly explained by low inflation in the GCC countries, prime destinations for Nepali migrants, which boosted their ability to send remittances. In addition, the sharp deceleration in GDP growth and continuing high inflation, especially high food prices, in Nepal encouraged Nepali migrants to increase remittances, the report says. 

At almost $189bn in 2023, remittance flows to South Asia once again are likely to exceed expectations, outstripping previous forecasts in Migration Development Brief 38 by $13bn. As in 2022, this remarkable increase is attributable entirely to remittance flows to India, which are expected to beat previous forecasts by $14bn and reach $125bn in 2023. 

After growing at 12.2 percent in 2022, growth in remittances to South Asia is likely to decelerate to 7.2 percent in 2023. This regional average is the outcome of high growth in one half of the South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and declines in the other half (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, and Pakistan).

The report further adds that  key drivers of remittance growth in 2023 are a historically tight labor market in the United States, high employment growth in Europe reflecting extensive leveraging of worker retention programs, and a dampening of inflation in high-income countries.

The slackening in remittance growth relative to 2022 is attributable to a near collapse in growth in 2023 in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the halving of growth in the remaining GCC countries triggered by the drop in oil prices and production cuts in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  In comparison, remittances as a share of GDP ranged around 7 percent in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and 5.2 percent in Bangladesh in 2023. In India, the share of remittances in the economy was only 3.4 percent, despite its position as the largest recipient of remittances globally, the report says. 

After two years of double-digit growth, remittance flows to Nepal are projected to moderate and grow at nine percent, reaching $12bn in 2024. While economic conditions in the GCC, the main destination for migrants from Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, are projected to be positive, low oil prices will restrain large-scale expansion in new hires, thus curbing growth in remittances. 

Remittances to Bhutan are projected to stabilize at $75m (2023 levels). In Maldives, remittances are expected to fall to the pre-pandemic level of $4m in 2024 due to mounting debt and fiscal challenges that erode migrants’ confidence and lead them to opt for informal channels of money transfer, the report says. 

The gold is being traded at Rs 119, 000 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 118, 450 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,480 per tola today.  

Residents of Kathmandu have initiated a protest, expressing dissatisfaction with the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee for not supplying water from Melamchi River to Kathmandu Valley.

The committee stopped supplying water from the Melamchi River in June to save temporary structures built to divert water into the tunnel from monsoon floods. In the past year, it would resume supply following the end of monsoon in mid-November.. The supply, however, hasn’t resumed this year.  

The Kathmandu Valley Struggle Committee organized a peaceful rally on Monday. It has vowed to intensify protest in the coming days if water supply from Melamchi River does not resume immediately.

Approximately 3.2m residents in the Kathmandu Valley rely on the piped water supply provided by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Ltd (KUKL). But KUKL has been facing difficulty in managing supplies as it hasn’t received supply from its major source—the Melamchi River.

Govinda Raj Panta, the coordinator of the struggle committee, said that the rally began from Koteshwar and concluded at Minbhawan. 

The Kathmandu Valley has been grappling with a chronic shortage of drinking water. The supply is exacerbated during the dry winter months when water flow from its sources reduces significantly. 

“In the past years, supply from the Melamchi River would resume by mid-November. It is already the third week of December, but they haven’t resumed supply,” Panta added.

Panta sees no technical reason for stopping water supply from the Melamchi River. “There seems to be a managerial lapse. This is why we initiated the protest to exert pressure on the authorities,” said Panta.

Officials, however, contend that the delay is due to technical challenges. Rajendra Prasad Panta, the spokesperson for the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, cited October floods in the Melamchi River which damaged the access road to the dam site and a temporary structure facilitating the diversion of Melamchi waters to the tunnel. “Floods have deposited debris in the 210-meter tunnel that links the dam with the main tunnel,” said Spokesperson Panta.

While the access road to the dam site in Ambathan has been reconstructed with the support of the Helambu Rural Municipality, it will take time to clear debris from the tunnel, he added. “Although we requested the main contractor, Sino Hydro, to expedite these efforts, there is a delay.” Spokesperson Panta said that the cabinet must first endorse the variation order submitted by the committee.

As Sino Hydro’s contract with the committee is set to expire in December, the committee has initiated a new bidding process to enlist a new company. “We are currently in the process of evaluating the bids,” stated Spokesperson Panta. 

The estimated cost for removing debris from the tunnel and other works is Rs 120m.

Officials of the committee failed to provide a clear timeline for resuming the supply of Melamchi waters to Kathmandu.

ADB for relocating the main dam

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a key financier of the project, has suggested that the dam site be relocated stating that recurrent floods have made the current site unfeasible. In response, the government has opted to undertake an independent study to ascertain whether the dam needs to be relocated as proposed by the ADB. 

More than Rs 60bn has been invested in the Melamchi Water Supply Project which was initiated two decades ago. It is designed to supply 170m liters of water from the Melamchi River to the Kathmandu Valley through a 26.5 km long tunnel in the first phase. 

The government plans to divert water from the nearby Yangri and Larke rivers by building two more tunnels to increase water supply to the Kathmandu Valley to 510m liters per day in the second phase.