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Commercial banks have disbursed 28.88 percent of their total loans to the priority sectors in the first half of the current fiscal year. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has identified agriculture, energy, and micro, cottage, small, and medium industries (MCSMI) as 'prescribed sectors'. According to NRB statistics, of the total lending of Rs 4,276.33 billion, banks have invested Rs 1,235 billion in these sectors till the first half of FY 2022/23. Of the total loans to the priority sectors, 13.09 percent went to the agriculture sector, 6.29 percent to the energy sector, and 9.51 percent for the MCSMI sector. Of the 22 commercial banks, only five banks have extended credit to the agriculture sector beyond the minimum threshold by mid-January 2023. Similarly, the extension of credit of only three banks is above the threshold in the energy sector and four banks' credit is above the threshold in the MCSMI sector. As per NRB guidelines, the banks have to extend at least 13 percent of their total loans to the agricultural sector, 7 percent to the energy sector, and 12 percent to the MCSMI sector. In total, banks have to extend 32 percent of their total loans to these priority sectors by the end of the current fiscal year. The central bank statistics show banks' credit disbursement to the agriculture sector is as per the NRB's threshold while that to the energy sector is close to the threshold. However, credit disbursement to the MCSMI sector is well below the threshold. Bankers admit that it is a challenge to provide loans to the MCSMI sector as per the NRB threshold by the end of this fiscal year. While the prolonged liquidity crunch has hit the banks' credit expansion this fiscal, the MCSMI are also hard hit by the rising price and slowdown in market demand, say bankers. According to them, it will be a tough task to increase credit flow to the MCSMI sector in the current macroeconomic environment. As of mid-January, 2023, only Agricultural Development Bank Limited, Himalayan Bank, Nepal SBI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, and Sunrise Bank have their credit disbursement to the agriculture sector above the NRB threshold. In the energy sector, NMB Bank, Sunrise Bank and Sanima Bank have credit disbursement above the NRB threshold of 7 percent. Similarly, four banks - Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Kumari Bank and NIC Asia Bank have credit disbursement above the threshold of 12 percent in the MCSMI sector. The state-owned banks fare better than private sector banks when it comes to priority sector lending. Among the commercial banks, Agriculture Development Bank's disbursement to the priority sectors is the highest. The bank has disbursed 57.50 percent of its total loans to the priority sectors. The ADBL has disbursed 28.35 percent of loans to the agriculture sector, 4.79 percent to the energy sector, and 24.36 percent to the MCSMI sector in this fiscal. Similarly, the lending of another state-owned bank - Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) to priority sectors stood at 36.98 percent. RBB has 12.16 percent of its total loans to the agriculture sector, 6.89 percent to the energy sector, and 17.93 percent to the MCSMI sector. Among the private sector banks, NMB Bank is ahead of others when it comes to lending to the priority sectors. The bank has 32.90 percent of its total loans to the priority sector. NMB Bank has disbursed 12.74 percent of its total loans to the agricultural sector, 8.94 percent to the energy sector, and 11.22 percent to the MCSMI sector.  

After a devastating plane crash near the Pokhara Airport in January, various assumptions were made about its cause raising serious safety concerns. In response, Pokhara International Airport Civil Aviation Office (PIA CAO) has taken various emergency measures to dispel those concerns and regain public confidence. Although the number of arrivals is still below the levels seen before the crash, officials at PIA CAO report that the numbers are gradually increasing. Their main focus at this time is to reassure people of their safety and security, as the crash was not caused by any safety issues at the airport. Bikram Gautam, the Chief of PIA CAO, emphasized that safety is the topmost priority for the airport administration, and they are taking all necessary measures to ensure it. He further stated that the airport is actively working to address any misconceptions about safety measures and to reassure the public of their safety while using the airport. The official investigation into the cause of the Yeti Air crash near the newly built international airport is still ongoing. While there is no denying that the incident has caused people to lose confidence in air travel, efforts are being made to restore public trust and increase the number of passengers. According to eyewitnesses, they did not hear any sound from the plane before the sudden blast, even though it was approaching very close to their homes. "Maybe the plane had an engine problem, otherwise we would have heard the sound when it approached our dwellings," Ramesh Khatri, a local resident of Hariyokharka in Pokhara-15, said. Ganesh Poudel, a local resident of Chauthe in Pokhara-14, speculated that the plane may have collided with birds crossing the runway, as he frequently sees birds approaching the airport. Some locals share this concern, while others believe that the airport's design is not suitable for the climatic conditions of the Pokhara valley. Before transitioning to the newly constructed international airport at Chauthe in Pokhara-14, the Pokhara Airport used to handle more than 2,500 passengers every day, which would double during the tourist season. However, this year the maximum number of passengers per day is limited to around 1500, even though the tourist season has already begun. “But this number cannot be considered low. Even in the initial stage of operation, the airport has succeeded in accommodating this number of passengers," said Yashoda Regmi, the spokesperson for the PIA CAO. On the other hand, tourism stakeholders say that they have experienced a loss of passengers in the two months following the crash. Hari Ram Adhikari, president of the Nepal Association of Tours and Travel Agents (NATTA) Gandaki Chapter, said almost 80 percent of clients had canceled their flights in the initial days after the crash. “Most of those who canceled their air tickets were Nepali people, while the impact on foreigners was minimal,” he said. "Foreigners did not seem fearful after the crash; they accepted it as an incident." According to Adhikari, the number of travelers choosing air travel is gradually increasing, not only because they are forgetting the accident day by day but also due to additional facilities and safety measures put in place by the airport administration. Pokhara International Airport is taking significant measures to restore people's confidence and make the approach slope free of birds. It recently installed a bird inspection device around the runway and also recruited a bird hunter. It has also installed a siren system that alerts officials if birds are on the runway. Likewise, the airport administration is collaborating with local bodies and stakeholders to clean up the rivers, lakes, and ponds in the Pokhara area. It has already sent request letters to all local government agencies in this regard. The airport management has been meeting frequently with local stakeholders to discuss ways to improve the Pokhara International Airport. "We are committed to conveying the reality to people first. Therefore, we are taking some additional measures that were not in our annual plan," Gautam said. According to airport officials, there are still many tasks to be completed before the airport can operate at full capacity. "Preparations are ongoing to make agreements with international airlines. Some airlines will be operating soon," Jagannath Niroula, the spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN), said. Recently, the airport successfully completed a 60-day procedure for testing international standard mechanisms and has been enlisted in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP). It has recently started Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and also begun night landing and take off. The airport officials claim that PIA is the first airport in the country to have a Distance Measuring Equipment and Instrument Landing System.

When the 15th Plan started in the fiscal year 2019/20, there was much hope for the country’s economic transformation, especially with a stable government with an almost two-thirds majority in place. The KP Sharma Oli-led government also aimed for high-trajectory economic growth. The National Planning Commission (NPC) in the 15th Plan had set a growth target of 8.5 percent in FY 2019/20, 9.6 percent in FY 2020/21, 9.9 percent in FY 2021/22, 9.6 percent in fiscal 2022/23, and 10.3 percent in FY 2023/24. But it didn’t take much time for hope to turn into despair as the country plunged into political instability and the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country hard. The intra-party infighting in the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP) formed after the merger between the CPN (UML) and the CPN (Maoist Centre) overshadowed the government's economic priorities. And, the Covid-19 pandemic during which the government enforced a months-long lockdown further hit the economic activities and the private sector. As a result, economic growth in FY 2019/20 was limited to 2.4 percent. As the Covid-19 pandemic continued in FY 2020/21 too, the economy grew by 4.3 percent in FY 2020/21 and 5.8 percent in FY 2021/22. According to economists, the growth target set by the NPC is far from reality. “There is a trend of setting the growth target based on ambition instead of ground reality,” said a former Finance Secretary. “So, it is obvious to see those targets went unachieved.” The writing is already on the wall about the economic performance in FY 2022/23 with the country witnessing economic growth of just 0.8 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. It is the lowest growth in the last seven years in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis. The economic growth slumped because of negative growth in five areas, namely construction, mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail and repair of motor vehicles, transportation and storage, and education, according to the National Statistics Office. Even during Dashain and Tihar festivals and before the November 20 elections, businessmen were complaining about reduced market demand for goods and services. A part of market dynamism was also affected by import control measures with the government banning imports of automobiles, liquor, and expensive mobile sets till December 2022. In the federal budget for FY 2022/23, the government has targeted eight percent economic growth. But after six months, the mid-term review slashed the growth rate to 4.5 percent. After concluding the Article IV mission, the International Monetary Fund said on February 28 that Nepal’s economy is expected to grow by just 4.4 percent in the current fiscal year. “Nepal’s real GDP growth is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year, and resilient remittances,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement. The IMF has warned that the country remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability. NPC has projected that the country's economy would grow by six percent in FY 2023/24, the final year of the 15th plan. There is a projection of economic growth of 7.4 percent in fiscal 2024/25 and 8 percent in the fiscal year 2025/26, as per the NPC’s mid-term economic targets. Given the fractured political mandate after the elections on November 20 last year, economists are skeptical about attaining the growth target. According to them, the country could have entered into a new cycle of political instability. “In the space of just two months since the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government was formed, another government is being formed with a new alliance,” the former Finance Secretary said.

Laxmi Intercontinental, the authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles in Nepal has launched the facelift version of the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios in the market with the slogan "More. The Merrier". Issuing a press statement, the company claimed that the new Hyundai hatchback is 'set to take the automotive segment by storm' due to its new and innovative combination of cutting-edge technology, high performance, attractive design, and distinctive features. "Revolutionary and distinctive touch is added to the overall appearance of the new Grand i10 Nios with its first in-segment-extended LED Tail Light with a connected light bar at the rear of the vehicle. The new Painted Black Radiator Grille and LED Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) on the front of the new Grand i10 Nios give the vehicle a stylish and sporty edge. Similarly, its 15-inch Dual Tone Styled Steel Wheel, Projector Headlamps, Shark Fin Antenna, and Roof Rail give the hatchback an unmistakably unique identity," reads the statement. According to the company, the interior of the all-new Hyundai Grand i10 Nios boasts a modern and refreshing layout with its Dual Tone Gray interiors. The hatchback comes with new features like semi-fabric seats, tilt steering, a cooled glove box, footwell lighting, an 8'' Infotainment System, and a rear USB charger. "Furthermore, the all-new Grand i10 Nios is packed with high-tech features and has set a new standard as a technology-friendly car. Its latest features include a Wireless Phone Charger, Fast USB Type C Charger, Cruise Control, Voice Recognition, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto," said the company, adding, "The driver can obtain other information such as fuel economy, average vehicle speed, and service reminders from the Multi-Info Display (MID) feature in the digital instrument cluster of the new Grand i10 Nios." According to the statement, the safety features in the all-new Hyundai Grand i10 Nios are unmatched. The body of the hatchback is made with Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHHS), making it stronger and safer than ever before. It features Four Airbags, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Automatic Headlamps, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Vehicle Stability Management (VSM), Hill-Start Assist Control (HAC), Rear Parking Camera with Display on Audio, and other special features. Additionally, the facelift model has safety features like a Speed Alert System, Burglar Alarm, Rear Defogger, Impact Sensing Auto Door Unlock, Speed Sensing Auto Door Lock, Headlamp Escort System, and Emergency Stop Signal. The company informs that the Grand i10 Nios comes with a powerful 1.2L petrol engine. With a ground clearance of 165mm, the hatchback offers the perfect combination of power and agility for that thrilling driving experience. The Grand i10 Nios is available in Era, Magna, and Sportz variants in the MT option and Magna and Sportz in the AMT Option with a starting price of Rs 29,96,000.