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‘Is Nepal on its way to becoming another Sri Lanka?’ This question is being repeatedly asked, in the media and out on the street, as Nepal’s economic woes deepen. Many economists say the comparison between the two countries is misguided: the problems they face are different. Big foreign loans are Sri Lanka’s primary concern while for Nepal the big worry is a mix of high fuel import cost and erratic remittance. Nepal’s foreign loan-repayments (around $400m due by the end of this fiscal) are peanuts compared to Sri Lanka’s (around $4bn due). But if Nepal does not take drastic steps, it could well go Lanka’s way.

Senior economist Chandra Mani Adhikari says Nepal needs to learn the right lessons. Sri Lanka shows how small and emerging economies can plunge into a deep crisis despite their good economic indicators, he says. That will be the case especially “if their economic policies are flawed and their resources are haphazardly mobilized.” Comparing the economy to a traffic-light system, he says Nepal’s economy right now is in the ‘yellow’ zone and inching toward the dreaded ‘red’ zone.

One big problem in Nepal is lack of coordination on economic policies between concerned agencies. For instance, in the words of Bishwarmbhar Pyakurel, another senior economist, there is little coordination between the National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Nepal Rastra Bank. “These three agencies have competing visions and often encroach on each other’s jurisdictions,” he adds.

So besides drastically cutting the country’s fuel imports and adopting other fuel-saving measures, there is a need to harmonize economic policy-making. What we see instead is the government taking reckless measures like dismissing the sitting central bank governor. This is playing with fire. Hopefully our policymakers realize the folly of doing so before the flares lap up the whole country.

More details, Fixing Nepal’s broken economy and Editorial: Central folly 

Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal has urged the government to postpone the local level elections.

The party urged the government to postpone the May 13 elections to ensure their participation.

Party spokesperson and Standing Committee member Khadga Bahadur Bishwokarma held a meeting with Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and said that they also wanted to take part in the local polls.

"We have urged the Home Minister to postpone the elections. He has taken our request seriously," Bishwokarma said. 

He further said that they have demanded the government to implement the three-point agreement signed with the government.

The government has decided to accept around Rs 80 billion in grant assistance from United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

A Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday had decided to accept Rs 79. 71 billion in grant assistance from the United States, government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said while making public the decisions of Cabinet on Friday.

Similarly, the government has decided to take a soft loan of Rs 18 billion from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused European countries that continue to buy Russian oil of "earning their money in other people's blood," BBC reported.

In an interview with the BBC, President Zelensky singled out Germany and Hungary, accusing them of blocking efforts to embargo energy sales, from which Russia stands to make up to £250bn ($326bn) this year.

There has been a growing frustration among Ukraine's leadership with Berlin, which has backed some sanctions against Russia but so far resisted calls to back tougher action on oil sales.

"Some of our friends and partners understand that it is a different time now, that it is no longer an issue of business and money," Mr Zelensky told the BBC from his situation room in Kyiv on Thursday. "That it is an issue of survival."

The president also reiterated calls for more weapons to be supplied to Ukraine, saying they were not getting supplies fast enough to fend off Russia's assault.

"The United States, the United Kingdom, some European countries - they are trying to help and are helping," he said. "But still we need it sooner, sooner and faster. The key word is now."

Russian troops have in recent weeks pulled back from around Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and other central and northern parts of the country - apparently abandoning an attempt to seize all of Ukraine by force, according to BBC.

But there are fears now of a bloody and protracted conflict in the east and south of the country, as Russian President Vladimir Putin refocuses his military campaign there in an effort to seize more territory.

The southern port city of Mariupol - a strategic goal for President Putin - has already been devastated by weeks of Russian artillery bombardment. 

President Zelensky told the BBC he thought tens of thousands may have been killed in the city.

"We also have information that as well as those tens of thousands of dead, many have disappeared," he said. "We know their documents have been replaced, they were given Russian passports and taken deep into Russia - some to camps, some to other cities. No one knows what is happening to those people. No one knows how many have been killed."

Mr Zelensky said the atrocities apparently committed by Russian troops in Mariupol, and in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka, had further narrowed the possibility of peace talks with the Russians. 

Hundreds of dead have been found in Bucha since it was taken back by Ukrainian forces a little over a week ago, including civilians who were found shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs, as well as widespread reports of sexual violence, BBC reported.

"Bucha is in the process of closing [the possibilities of peace talks]," President Zelensky said. "It's not about me - it's about Russia. They will not have many more chances to speak with us."

He said he had "experienced the entire spectrum of emotions" when he visited Bucha last week, but ended the day with "nothing but hatred towards the Russian military". He accused President Putin and the rest of the Russian army "from top to bottom" of being "war criminals".