Roundup of Nepali Economic and Business News for Feb 16-Mar 3 By NepaliEconomy.com
News Archive
Visit Nepal 2011 was the headline story of the past two weeks. PM Nepal formally inaugurated the year-long campaign on February 26, 2010. Nineteen political parties have pledged to refrain from calling bands, we'll see if that pledge will hold. Tourists' entry through Tribhuvan International airport increased 33 percent in February 2010 to 33,492. By 2011 32 international airlines will be flying to Nepal including Malaysian Airlines which applied for a permit. Four Nepali airlines are seeking licences to fly internationally. Pokhara a key destination is benefiting from tourism boom. 35 new hotels opened there in 2009 following 41 in the prior year, bringing the total to 475.
NEPSE closed for a week from February 19 to March 1 because brokers protested against government inaction to stock market decline. It ended after government succumbed to brokers' demands. As per the agreement, four brokers were allowed to operate outside Kathmandu - two in Pokhara and two in Biratnagar. As per an earlier agreement, Indian embassy has provided Rs 10.92 million to enable the NEPSE to install Central Depository System (CDS).
The economic fallout from load-shedding continues. Lack of power during prime time hours means declining revenue for ad industry. Output of industries in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor is down 80 percent. While the country goes through non-stop power crisis, power development is hampered by political instability. Maoists have stopped work on 600MW Upper Marshyangdi-II after doing so on 900 MW Upper Karnali. 750 MW West Seti is on hold because of internal wranglings. Despite these problems, the World Bank is showing interests in mega hydro projects for the first time since the Arun-III debacle more than a decade ago. The government blames the private sector for the woes. Power consultant Mr. Gyendra Pradhan claimed that Nepal had begun to receive some US $ 10 billion for the construction of more than 5 thousand hydro projects.
In the first 7 months of 2009/10 Nepal imported 14.03 tons of gold, twice the annual demand, mostly likely because Nepal is becoming a conduit for gold imports to India. This could worsen because India has raised import tariff on gold by 33 percent to IRs 300 per 10 grams. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is trying to rein in gold import. It reduced the daily limit of imports through hand carry to 15kg. On another India related news, India has rejected Nepal's request to end monopoly of IOC to supply petroleum products to Nepal.
Can this be true? The government is supposedly preparing to introduce universal health insurance in Nepal.
1 comment:
It's a good thing that the political parties have pledged to not have "bandhs" as the country promotes tourism. However, it would be beneficial is they could also figure out a way to extend the power supply. That would help too.
Post a Comment