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Domestic flights have been affected due to adverse weather. Flights to Pokhara, Bharatpur, Tumlingtar among the destinations were hampered due to poor visibility, the Tribhuvan International Airport Office said. TIA Office spokesperson Teknath Sitaula said flights have been completely affected in three domestic destinations including Pokhara. Flights to Simara opened some minutes back. The flights to Pokhara, Bharatpur and Tumlingtar have not opened yet. Although flights could not be conducted to three destinations until now, they were operated to some destinations with the clearing up of the weather. The TIA Office said 115 flights have been scheduled towards the domestic sector today. The flights have been affected due to the increased air pollution at various places of the country including in Kathmandu for the past three days. Air flights to Pokhara were affected on Friday and Saturday as well. Sitaula said although the flights towards the international sector were generally affected in the morning, they are taking place regularly now. An aircraft of the Qatar Airways had to hold for about two hours as it made a mis-approach.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 800 per tola in the domestic market Sunday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 110, 000 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 110, 800 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 250. The silver is being traded at Rs 1, 450.

2079 BS was a roller coaster year for the Nepali economy. Nepal grappled with an external sector crisis starting at the beginning of the year and the country is again facing another crisis in the form of a huge fiscal deficit as the year ends. The country's economy is passing through a difficult phase with the government struggling in revenue collection and resource management, growing discontent of businesspersons against banks and financial institutions, and rising bad loans in the financial sector. While the recovery of the country's external sector has provided some breathing space, declining imports and the slowdown in economic activities, falling demands, and economic activities have emerged as new concerns. The year also saw the deterioration in the relationship between Finance Minister and Nepal Rastra Bank Governor, the federal budget tampering episode, and the government issuing licenses to a certain sector in collusion with the private sector. The private sector's displeasure over high borrowing rates is yet to subside and the financial sector is facing a possible storm in the form of rising bad loans and difficulties in the recovery of debts. Over the past year, the non-performing loans (NPL) of BFIs have doubled. The recent data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that NPLs of commercial banks stood at 2.49 percent compared to 1.18 percent in the last fiscal year. The lending of BFIs has remained dismal as industrialists and businesspersons held back their new investment plans. The country's economic growth in the first quarter has been limited to 0.8 percent. Over the past year, interest rates have been a subject of much debate and controversy with the business community blaming high borrowing as one of the main reasons for the current economic slowdown in the country. The high-interest rates, declining market demand, and slowdown in the stock market, realty sector, and construction sector have weakened the private sector's confidence. According to Rajendra Malla, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, 2079 was a very difficult year for business community members. "In my 36 years in the business sector, I have not seen economic problems like in the past year," he said. Government treasury in deficit The import restrictions to avert the external sector crisis has hit the government hard. With revenue collection on a continuous decline, the mismatch between government expenditure and income has widened further. Data show the government treasury is in deficit by over Rs 200bn by mid-April 2023. According to the latest statistics of the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government's expenditure reached Rs 895.13bn by mid-April while the income totaled Rs 667.82bn. The government has been able to meet only 47.59 percent of the revenue target during the nine months of the current fiscal year while the total expenditure has reached 49.9 percent of the annual target. Amid rising recurrent expenditure, the government has failed to expedite capital expenditure. Rising inflation Throughout the year, the Nepali economy had to deal with high consumer prices. While the government had set a goal of keeping inflation below 7 percent this year, the rate rose to more than 8 percent. While official data show the inflation rate did not reach double digits, surveys conducted by private sector organizations and independent studies have reported that prices of many products and services went by as high as 25 percent. While the inflation in Falgun (mid-March) came down to 7.44 percent, it is still higher than that of the last year. The average inflation last year was 6.32 percent. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, disruption in the supply chain, and subsequent price rise in the commodities hit the economy hard. Liquidity crunch and high-interest rates Last year, the banking system went through a liquidity crunch, which was seen as the most severe in living memory, pushing the interest rates to double digits. With the acute shortage of investment-grade liquidity in the financial system, interest rates on both deposits and lending kept on rising. The average interest rate of commercial banks till mid-February was above 13 percent. In fact, interest rate in 2079 BS was the highest in the last one decade. Amid higher interest rates, banks struggled in lending in the last year. The demand for loans declined sharply as economic activities slowed dramatically. The extension of loans of banks and financial institutions stood at Rs 128.18bn compared to Rs 522.49bn in 2078 BS. As the cost of loans increased, there was a strong protest against the banks and financial institutions across the country. However, starting from Magh, banks gradually reduced interest rates on deposits with easing of the liquidity in the financial system. The high interest rate has increased the cost of funds for banks which resulted in a decline in their profits. Realty and construction sector in recession With BFIs tightening the realty lending, the real estate sector saw business coming to a new low. Realty entrepreneurs said there has been a decline of about 60 percent in real estate transactions in the first nine of the current fiscal year. The government restriction on land plotting due to the delay over the classification of lands also hit the realty sector hard. As the realty sector was in disarray, the construction sector along with the cement, steel and other construction material business slumped massively. The slowdown in new housing construction as well as sluggish capital expenditure of the government hit the production capacity of the country's steel and cement industries. According to National Statistics Office, the construction sector's growth has remained negative by 24 percent and the mining sector by 29 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Stock market on a downward spiral 2079 was a year of losses for the stock market investors. The investors lost more than Rs 612bn last year. With the central bank not keen to ease the provision on margin lending, the stock market went on a bearish run throughout the year. While there is strong pressure on the government to ease the margin lending policy, the central bank is still reluctant to ease the flow of money to the stock market. And, some silver linings Amid the difficulties, silver linings have also been seen in the dark clouds of uncertainty. The improvement in the country's external sector has continued in the eight months of the current fiscal year. The report by the central bank shows noticeable improvements in the country's forex reserves, the balance of payment (BOP), tourism income, and remittance inflow. The electricity export to India has given new optimism. Nepal exported electricity worth Rs 11.16bn to its southern neighbor in the last one year. With Nepal and India agreeing to more energy cooperation, the door for more power export has been opened.

On the eve of the new year 2080 BS, the members of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) elected a new leadership that will spearhead the country's apex business body for the next three years. The members had voted for the election for the new leadership (excluding the president) on Wednesday. As per the FNCCI statute, the senior vice president automatically becomes the president for the next term. With Chandra Prasad Dhakal, who got elected as the senior vice president in 2020 becoming the new president, the election of the senior vice president turned into a battle royale. None of the three candidates - Anjan Shrestha, Umesh Lal Shrestha, and Ram Chandra Sanghai who contested for the senior VP post garnered the required 50 percent votes in the first round of voting. Anjan Shrestha got the highest 37.99 percent votes, followed by Umesh Lal Shrestha with 31.51 percent votes and Ram Chandra Sanghai with 30.46 percent votes. As the first round of voting became inconclusive, the second round was scheduled for 2 pm on Thursday between Anjan Shrestha and Umesh Lal Shrestha. However, the voting was postponed for two hours as a consensus effort to select the senior VP. With Umesh Lal agreeing to let Anjan become the senior VP for the next term, the second round of voting did not take place. While the senior VP was elected through consensus in the end, the three vice presidents were elected in a cutthroat battle. Sur Krishna Vaidya was elected as vice president of the district/municipal chambers defeating Arun Raj Sumargi and Dinesh Shrestha. Vaidya who was from the Sanghai’s panel received 43 votes while his competitors Sumargi and Shrestha garnered only 37 and 34 votes respectively. Similarly, Jyotsana Shrestha (from Sanghai's panel) was elected as vice president of the associate group. She defeated Bharat Acharya by 65 votes. Hemraj Dhakal of Umesh Lal panel emerged victorious in the election of vice president of the commodities association. Dhakal defeated Manish Lal Pradhan (Anjan's panel) and Sakunta Lal Hirachan (Sanghai’s panel).