Weekly Economic Updates (4th November 2021–12th November 2021)
1. The Nepalese tourism sector has seen the highest arrival of international tourists in October, almost two years into the Covid-19 pandemic. Nepal saw 23,284 international travelers in October which is the highest monthly tourist arrival since the beginning of the pandemic. [1]
2. Nepali commercial banks have recorded a profit of 18.11 billion in the first three months of the fiscal year 24.05% more than that of the same period last year. The major contributors have been NMB Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, NIC Asia Bank, Nabil Bank and Global IME Bank. [2]
3. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, gold prices have gone up by Rs. 1500 per tola whereas the silver prices have also risen by Rs. 25 per tola. [3]
4. The rise in the breach of laws in terms of uniformity, failure in competitive bidding and maintaining institutional standards of infrastructure have led to the government prohibiting the consumer committees from taking up new developmental projects until the new laws are introduced. [4]
5. The government spending has seen a fall in the last four months with development expenditure seeing only a 4.57% of the total spending of Rs. 220 billion. While the government had released salaries and allowances during Dashain, Tihar has seen a gradual fall in the total spending. [5]
6. After announcing the resumption of the Employment Permit System (EPS) for migrant workers, the South Korean government is now allowing job placement opportunities for eligible Nepali workers who have cleared the language proficiency and skill tests. [6]
7. The government announced that 31 local governments haven’t yet presented their annual budget for the fiscal year. 26 of these local governments belong to Province 2 and all of these governments won’t be provided grants until they announce their budgets. [7]
8. Rastriya Banijya Bank and the Nepal Army Welfare Fund have signed a memorandum to allow people from the Nepal Army who have served for more than 10 years to avail home loans of up to Rs. 25 lakhs. [8]
9. The US Embassy has announced that it will be donating USD 285000 to help reconstruct the Lo Gekar Monastery in Domadarkunda, Mustang. The Lo Gekar, one of the oldest Buddhist temples, faced heavy damages during the 2015 Nepal earthquake. [9]
10. The Nepal Rastra Bank will be issuing an additional Rs 20 billion into the domestic financial system to help commercial banks tackle the falling liquidity and lack of loanable funds in the banking system. [10]
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