Jan 27
Weekly Economic Updates (21 January 2022–27 January 2022)
1. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued a notice warning Nepalis and foreign nationals living in Nepal as well as Nepalis living abroad to refrain from trading cryptocurrencies, hyper funds, and other virtual currencies. [1]
2. The government has banned Nepali nationals from travelling to Gulf countries and Malaysia on visit visas citing that the travel restrictions induced by the spread of the Omicron variant have left many Nepalis stranded in these countries. [2]
3. Nepal and Japan signed an agreement on a concessional loan worth NPR 10.47 billion that the latter would provide to Nepal for the promotion of economic growth and to support the development efforts undertaken by the Government of Nepal. [3]
4. As per the Department of Industry, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) commitments increased by 30.20% to NPR 30.56 billion in the first six-month of FY 2021/22, from NPR 23.47 billion in the same period of FY 2020/21. [4]
5. Nepal’s imports reached a staggering NPR 999.34 billion mark in the first half of FY 2021/22, a 51.13% year-on-year surge. Subsequently, the trade deficit reached NPR 880.49 billion, a 46.64% rise compared to the same period of FY 2020/21.[5]
6. Himalaya Airlines has become the first airline in Nepal to successfully achieve the ISO 9001–2015 Quality Management System (QMS) certification. [6]
7. Nepal’s Commercial banks posted a net profit of NPR 34.13 billion in the first half of FY 2021/22, a 10% increase compared to NPR 31.05 billion in the first half of FY 2020/21. [7]
8. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided procure power from solar-based power projects through competitive bidding. Up until now, the state-owned power utility had been purchasing solar power at NPR 7.30 per unit. [8]
9. As per the preliminary data of the national census released by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal’s population has reached 29,192,480. Nepal’s average annual population growth rate in the last 10 years stood at 0.93%, the lowest in 80 years. [9]
10. The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) is carrying out feasibility studies for four hydroelectricity projects with a cumulative capacity of 1,371.85 MW. The DoED plans to complete the environmental impact assessment and feasibility study in the next four years. [10]
[1] https://himalsanchar.com/nrb-warns-not-to-trade-cryptocurrencies/
[2] https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/nepal-govt-bars-travel-to-gulf-countries-on-visit-visa
[3] https://nepalnews.com/s/nation/concessional-loan-of-rs-10-47b-received-from-japan
[4] https://doind.gov.np/detail/119
[7] https://www.sharesansar.com/newsdetail/commercial-bank-comparative-q2-78-79-2022-01-26
[9] https://nepalnews.com/s/nation/census-population-increased-by-over-10
