- Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Modnath Dhakal
Qatar to help Nepali migrant workers to build homes
Qatar has expressed interest in supporting Nepali migrant workers in the Gulf nation to build their houses. Ambassador of Qatar to Nepal Yousuf Bin Mohammad Al-Hail said in a meeting with journalists the other day that his country is ready to support returnee Nepali migrant workers to build their own houses. For this, he proposed to create a labour bank in Qatar and depo
How to distribute mountaineering, telecom revenues? not legal’
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has asked the government to clear the confusion regarding the distribution of the revenue generated from mountaineering and telecommunication. Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) is collecting the royalty from 27 snowcapped peaks measuring above 6,000 metres and distributing the revenue to various levels of the government. In FY 2019/20, the NMA deposited 55 per cent of the collected royalty to the federal consolidated fund and kept the remaining 45 per cent to itself while in 2020/21, it deposited 50 per cent to th
SEBON to increase number of share brokers and stock dealers
The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has unveiled its Policy and Programmes on Securities and Commodities Market for Fiscal Year 2022/23, with plans of expanding the number of share brokers and stock dealers.
Nabil Bank begins to groom entrepreneurs
Should the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) that play an instrumental role in the development of business, industries and infrastructure through the mobilisation of finance put their efforts to create entrepreneurs by themselves? While many BFIs have concentrated their policies and practice to enhance their lending and deposit portfolio, Nabil Bank has taken a different route to create and nurture entrepreneurs and startups in the country. The profit-seeking private sector bank has been implementing a programme to create entrepreneurship to develop social enterprises to solve everyday problems of the people.
Capital spending below halfway mark
Government capital spending has remained the worst this compared to the past many years except the period of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Total mobilisation of the capital allocation for the current fiscal year 2021/22 has reached just 46.22 per cent by Friday, according to the report of the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). The number is about 8 per cent less than the development spending in the last FY 2020/21 when the government had spent about 54 per cent of the budget earmarked for development works. Then the county was under the threat of COVID-19 and businesses had been trying to recover from the damages caused by the pandemic.
Domestic industries yield 42% value addition
Kathmandu, July 9: The number of industrial enterprises in Nepal has reached 60,185 by March 2020, concluded the National Industrial Survey 2020 published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Friday.There are 56,611 enterprises in industrial manufacturing, 356 in mines and minierals, 994 in electricity, gas and air-conditioning, and 2,224 in water supply, sewarage, and waste management and its treatment. The CBS said that 491,227 people are involved in these industrial enterprises – 6485 in mines and minerals, 444,964 in manufacturing, 21,593 in electricity, gas and air-conditioning, and 18,185 in water supply, waste management and treatment sector.However, the number of employees and workers getting regular salary and wages is only 381,687. All the industrial establishments have spent about Rs. 107.89 billion in salaries and wages – including cash, goods and other facilities – in the reference year 2020. Of the total amount paid for the salary and wages to the employees and workers, enterprises in mines and minerals sector mobilised Rs. 1.8 billion, industrial manufacturing Rs. 95.77 billion, gas and air-conditioning Rs. 6.92 billion and water, sewarage and waste management Rs. 3.4 billion. Likewise, the enterprises with the fixed assets worth Rs. 619.5 billion have produced goods and services of Rs. 1201.17 billion by spending Rs. 846.66 billion cost investment. It means, the total value addition was Rs. 354.51 billion – about 42 per cent. Capacity utilisation About 76 per cent enterprises had run for more than 270 days, 19 per cent 180-269 days, 4 per cent 90-179 days and 1 per cent less than 90 days. But only 39.9 per cent industries had run in their full capacity and 18.7 per cent enterprises utilised 75-99 per cent of their capacity while 29.1 per cent of them ran in 50-74 per cent capacity. About half of the industries (46 per cent) cited lack of demand and market for their inability to optimise the maximum capacity of the production plants. Similarly, insufficient raw materials (10 per cent), lack of resources (8 per cent) and shortage of skilled manpower (8 per cent) were other reasons. Access to financeThe survey has found that the small manufacturing enterprises – having less than 10 workers - have poor access to finance with only 34 per cent of them obtaining loan from the financial institutions. One per cent of them have received the commitment for loan mobilisation while 5 per cent are in the process of receiving loans. Number of large industries has increased by 23 per cent in a decade. There were 4,076 large enteprises in 2010 which has gone up to 5,017 in 2020. Likewise, the number of people involved in these institutions has increased by 41 per cent in the past 10 years to reach 288,170. The average number of people involved in an enterprise is 57. It was 50 in 2010. Deputy Director General of the CBS Dr. Hem Raj Regmi said that although the reference year was set for 2020, the survey was conducted in the last fiscal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also revealed that the first lockdown in 2020 caused the complete closure of 63 per cent enterprises, 24 per cent could run partially and only 13 per cent were operated in full capacity. Likewise, about 17 per cent employees and workers were forced to leave their work without any facility.
Central Bank suggested for new monetary policy
For the Monetary Policy for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2022/23, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has received suggestions like letting the exchange rate free, equity financing for the hydroelectricity projects, policy for blended finance, and bringing large cooperatives under the ambit of central bank’s supervision, Dr. Roop Jyoti, former Minister of State for Finance, suggested the NRB to leave the interest rate and exchange rate free to the market. “The rate should go up with the increasing demand, it will balance the short-supply of resources,” he said.
SEBON to implement e-auction in book building process
The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has indicated that it is going to announce the policy to implement Automated Electronic Auction System in book building process to determine the price at which an Initial Public Offering (IPO) would be sold. The electronic auction will bring the buyers and sellers together to determine the transaction price.
Nepal’s out-bound labour migration surges
As the international markets continue to revive after the coronavirus ravaged the global economy for two years, number of Nepalis going abroad in search of jobs has grown exponentially. But despite two decades’ track record of exporting human resources, Nepal has largely failed to supply high-skilled and professional manpower to the Gulf countries and elsewhere. According to the statistics of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), only eight high skilled and 48 professionals left the country for jobs abroad in a month from mid-May to mid-June this year while the department had issued about 62,349 labour permits during the same period.
Revision in margin lending limit suggested
The Security Board of Nepal (SEBON) has said that it was unfortunate that investors had taken to the street. “This is an untoward situation, nobody wanted it,” Chairman of the SEBON, Ramesh Hamal, said at a press conference organised by the capital market regulator on Tuesday evening as a group of investors chanted slogans against it at its entrance in Khumaltar.
Provinces unveil annual budget
Provinces have unveiled their annual budget of Rs. 305.4 billion for the upcoming fiscal year 2022/23 according priority to agriculture, infrastructure and tourism development. The share of recurrent and capital expenditure in the provincial budget is Rs. 103.17 billion and 173.06 billion respectively – about 33.77 per cent and 56.65 per cent. Bagmati province has unveiled a budget of Rs. 70.94 billion, largest among the provinces, while Karnali has announced the smallest budget of Rs. 32.61 billion for the next fiscal.
Govt forms committee to study capital market situation
The government has formed a committee to study the current situation of the capital market in the country. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Prabhakar informed on Wednesday at the 30th Anniversary programme of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) that a four-member suggestion committee is formed with the participation of the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank and SEBON to solve various problems witnessed in the capital market and submit suggestions.
Nepal should shed off ‘small nation’ syndrome: Prof. Subedi
Professor Surya P. Subedi suggested Nepal to focus on a few areas in which it has capacity to deliver. Delivering a lecture on ‘Foreign Policy of Nepal: Past, Present and Future’ in the first edition of the Professor Yadu Nath Khanal Lecture Series, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday in Kathmandu, Prof. Subedi suggested resorting to diplomacy for development, attracting Foreign Direct Investment and establishing international Himalayan and legal centre in the country.
Surviving Complex Geoeconomics
A small state has many problems. Any Least Developed Country (LDC) has additional challenges. And, a landlocked country has further domestic and international issues like high production and transit costs. Unfortunately, Nepal is all of them. On top of that, it has two large neighbours that are also among the largest global economies with a combined 2.8 billion population, about 36 per cent of the world. This small Himalayan nation fits the adage coined by the late king Prithvi Narayan Shah – a yam between two boulders, which indicates its delicate nature since the growth of the yam is restricted by the boulders.
Scant spending a bane for development
The country is set to receive the budget for the next Fiscal Year 2022/23 on Sunday amidst a dismal performance of capital and recurrent allocations in the current FY 2021/22. As the major ministries mobilising the capital allocations for the development and infrastructure projects across the country fared poorly, the federal government could spend only 33.12 per cent of the Rs. 378 billion capital budget by Friday. It means, only Rs. 125.2 billion is disbursed from the Financial Comptroller General Office till the other day.
