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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 26. 80 points to close at 1,975.89 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 5. 55 points to close at 373. 95 points. A total of 4,772,140 unit shares of 260 companies were traded for Rs 1. 66 billion. Meanwhile, Shuvam Power Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 98 percent. Likewise, Goodwill Finance Limited Debeanture was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 55 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 86 trillion.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 700 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 103, 500 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 101, 800  per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 000 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 25 is being traded at Rs 1,245 per tola today.

Nepal Bankers' Association (NBA) has decided to slash the interest rate of savings while keeping the interest rate of fixed deposits unchanged. The new rate will come into effect from March 15. A meeting of the NBA on Thursday decided to reduce the interest rate of saving deposits as well as call deposits. The bankers have also agreed to reduce the loan premium rate. The NBA decided to cut the interest rate on saving deposits by 0.42 percentage points. Currently, the interest rate on saving deposits ranges from a minimum of 6.42 percent to a maximum of 8.42 percent. This means the interest rate on saving deposits will be in the range of 6-8 percent from mid-March. Banks have also agreed to reduce the interest rate of call deposits by 0.21 percentage points which currently stands at 3.21 percent. Now, they have agreed to fix a 3 percent interest rate on call deposits. However, bankers have kept the interest rate on fixed deposits unchanged for the time being. The bankers did not change the interest rate on fixed deposits fearing that such a move could infuriate the depositors and lead to the withdrawal of deposits. "In that situation, there would again be pressure on the liquidity situation. Keeping that in mind, the interest rate on fixed deposits has been kept unchanged," said Sharma. The banks had reduced the interest rate on fixed deposits to 11 percent in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) from 12.13 percent. Bankers have also decided to reduce the loan premium rate by 1 percentage point. At present, banks have been determining the interest rate of loans with a premium of up to 6 percentage points on the base rate. Now, banks have agreed to determine the interest rate by adding a maximum of 5 percentage points to the base rate from mid-March. Banks were increasingly criticized for charging high premiums on loans as some of the banks' premiums were as high as 8 percent. With banks deciding to reduce the interest rate on savings, the interest rate on loans will also decrease in the coming days. The share of savings and call deposits in the total deposits of banks is about one-third. As the interest rate on deposits declines, it will bring down the banks' expenses to some extent. According to Anil Sharma, executive director of NBA, the meeting decided to reduce the interest rate to provide relief to the borrowers. "Lately, the borrowers are finding it difficult to pay the installments. Hence, we have decided to cut the interest rate on savings and call deposits which will lead to a reduction in the interest rate of loans," said Sharma. Amid the increasing discontent of the private sector over interest rates, and the rage of businesspersons spreading across the country in recent months, banks were under pressure to reduce the interest rates. With higher interest rates on lending making loans costlier on one hand and drying up the demand for loans on other hand, bankers have reached a conclusion to make loans cheaper. The private sector organizations have been complaining that many small and medium enterprises have been pushed to the wall by increased interest rates just as they were emerging from the pandemic. Last November, members of the business community took to the streets against the high-interest rates charged by banks and financial institutions. The interest rate cut was the top agenda of the private sector when they met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal last week and Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala on Tuesday. As the loan interest has become expensive, some businesspersons led by controversial businessman Durga Prasain have initiated a campaign of not repaying the loans. On the other hand, there is also pressure on the government and the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to revitalize the market and the economy by reducing interest rates.

With Nepal no longer buying vaccines for Covid-19, Nepal’s imports of pharmaceutical products have sharply decreased in the current fiscal year. According to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), the import of pharmaceutical products declined by 48.1 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year. TEPC data shows Nepal imported pharmaceutical products worth Rs 25.29bn during the first seven months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 38.75bn during the same period of FY 2021/22. “One of the major reasons behind the decline in pharmaceutical products appears to be a decrease in import of vaccines in the current fiscal year,” said a senior official of the Department of Customs. “But we have to see the statistics to confirm if it is the only reason.” In the last fiscal year, Nepal’s major focus was on vaccinating the population against Covid-19. Nepal was importing vaccines either by purchasing or receiving them under grants from various countries or international agencies. Now, the country's majority of the population has been fully vaccinated and Covid-19 cases also appear in insignificant numbers, Covid vaccines are not being brought into the country. This has brought down the total imports of pharmaceuticals. In the last fiscal year, Nepal imported pharmaceutical products worth Rs 71.93 billion, a rise of 97.78 percent from Rs 36.37bn in the previous fiscal 2020/21. “Nepal has been receiving the Covid-19 vaccines free of cost under the COVAX,” said a senior official of the Department of Health Service. COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. Nepal spent a lot of money purchasing vaccines last fiscal year 2021/22. But, the value of vaccines that are received in grants is included in the accounting of imports, according to customs officials. With the Covid-19 pandemic no longer considered a major public health threat at the moment, government spending on controlling the pandemic has slumped this fiscal year. On Wednesday, Nepal reported a single Covid case and only four active cases. However, an official of the Department of Health Services said that along with the decline in Covid-19 cases, Nepal’s spending on prevention, control, and treatment of the pandemic has also declined sharply. During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the government spent Rs700,000 for the purpose, according to the mid-term review of the budget for FY 2022/23. The government has allocated Rs 15.47bn for the purpose in the current fiscal year 2022/23. “Even though there has not been fresh spending from the dedicated budget for Covid-19, many activities are underway against Covid-19 through the regular health budget too,”  a senior official of the Department of Health Services. “Nevertheless, low spending of dedicated budget shows that Covid-19 is more or less under control. But it has not been eliminated yet.” Meanwhile, the import of medical equipment has also decreased during the first half of the current fiscal year. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank statistics, the import of medical equipment from China has decreased by 2.2 percent to Rs 2.74bn and imports from the third countries decreased by 27 percent to Rs 4bn.