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At a time when the government is drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, facing difficulties to pay pensions and salaries to civil service employees, the demand for reviving the highly controversial Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program, popularly known as the 'constituency development fund' has surfaced again. The lawmakers of the ruling Nepali Congress during a parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday urged Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Saran Mahat to include the program in the upcoming federal budget. Most of the Nepali Congress lawmakers who spoke in the discussion with the finance minister urged that the program should be revived. The lawmakers argued that 'it was difficult for the federal parliamentarians to reach out to the people of their respective constituencies as there was no development budget for them'. They said there is a need to revive the program in the upcoming budget to 'connect with the people'. In response, Dr. Mahat did not commit to fulfilling their demand and briefed the lawmakers about the country's economic situation stating that it has become challenging to raise the necessary resources for the budget. Earlier run as two separate programs— the Constituency Infrastructure Special Program and the Constituency Development Program, the Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program has faced widespread criticism for being distributive as well as for the alleged misuse of the funds. As the program gives discretionary authority to lawmakers to utilize the funds to run development programs in their constituencies, there were many instances in the past when the projects under the program were largely run by the local consumer committees close to the political party cadres. Under the program, the government in the fiscal year 2020/21 had allocated Rs 40 million for each constituency. The program is implemented through the local governments with the joint funding of federal and local government resources. The federal government stopped resources for projects under the program in July 2020 after deciding to invest the unused funds under the program for the Covid-19 response. However, in 2021, the then KP Sharma Oli government decided to release the budget despite widespread concerns over possible misuse of funds. Following criticisms from all quarters of the society, the then Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada in the federal budget of FY 2020/21 reduced the resources for the program. The funds for each constituency were reduced to Rs 40 million from earlier Rs 60 million. The federal government in FY 2020/21 had allocated Rs 6.60 billion for the program, down from Rs 9.90 billion in FY 2019/20. The controversial program was scrapped by the then Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel in the FY 2021/22 federal budget. According to NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak, lawmakers have given various suggestions to the finance minister for the upcoming budget during Tuesday's meeting. Finance Minister Mahat briefed the lawmakers about the principles, priorities, and bases of the next fiscal year's budget.

The base rate of Nepali commercial banks declined in the third quarter of the current fiscal year as banks reduced their interest rates on deposits. The financial reports of commercial banks show the base rate has declined by 0.28 percentage points by mid-April, 2023. The average base rate of banks was 10.80 percent until mid-January which came down to 10.51 percent by mid-April. Banks started reducing interest rates on deposits in mid-January. As their cost of funds decreased, the base rate also decreased accordingly. Currently, the base rate is the main tool to determine bank interest rates on loans in Nepal. Banks have been determining the loan interest rate by adding a premium to the base rate. According to the latest decision of the Nepal Bankers' Association, banks can determine the interest rate by adding a maximum of 5 percent premium to the base rate. With the base rate starting to decline, borrowers may get loans at cheaper interest rates in the coming days. However, the possibility of a significant reduction in borrowing rates is unlikely at the moment as the base rate has declined marginally. Bankers say the base rate will decrease further by mid-July which will make lending rates cheaper. Banks have been calculating the base rate on a quarterly basis and the last quarter of the current fiscal year starts from Baisakh. This way, the effect of the interest rate cut in Baisakh will be seen in Shrawan (July-August). Among the 21 commercial banks, the base rate of the two banks increased in the third quarter. The base rate of Nepal SBI Bank has increased by 0.33 percent and Machhapuchhre Bank by 0.08 percent compared to the second quarter. The base rate of Nepal SBI, which was 10.75 percent till mid-December reached 11.08 percent in mid-April. Similarly, the base rate of Machhapuchhre climbed to 11.31 percent in mid-April from 11.23 percent in mid-December. As of mid-April, the base rate of five banks has come down to single digits. Among them, Rastriya Banijya Bank's base rate stood at 8.47 percent, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal's at 9.27 percent, Nepal Bank's at 9.92 percent, Everest Bank's at 9.94 percent and Nabil Bank's at 9.99 percent. Currently, Sunrise Bank's base rate is the highest among commercial banks. The bank's base rate stood at 11.34 percent in mid-April. As the base rate is higher, the interest rates on loans of Sunrise Bank are higher than other banks. Over the past year, interest rates on deposits kept on increasing due to a prolonged liquidity crunch. As banks' cost of funds increased due to a surge in deposit interest rates, the base rate also increased during this period ultimately making loans expensive for borrowers. The banks will also have to reduce the spread rate to 4 percent by the end of Ashad (mid-July) which is currently 4.4 percent. The Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed the banks to lower the spread rate to 4.2 percent by the end of Chaitra (mid-April) and 4 percent by the end of Ashad. As a result, bankers say that the lending rate will decrease.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 200 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 109, 700 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 200 per tola. It was traded at Rs 109, 000. Similarly, the silver of silver has dropped by Rs 500 and is being traded at Rs 1,415 per tola today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 17.36 points to close at 1,905.68 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 4.27 points to close at 363. 65 points. A total of 2,700,570-unit shares of 264 companies were traded for Rs 885 billion. Meanwhile, Taragoan Regency Hotel Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 8.00 percent. Sunrise Bluechip Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 10.00 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 77 trillion.