Nepal business, finance and trade news, every Wednesday.
Nepal Kept One Copy of the State
Auditor General Toyam Raya told the Public Accounts Committee last week that fires during the September 8-9 protests last year destroyed records at 179 public organizations, including about one million land documents. Government transactions worth Rs 148 billion ($973 million) are now, as a result, apparently unaudited. Bank statements and government software can show that money moved, but proof that it moved legally burned with the files. Lawmakers rejected the idea that missing paper should excuse missing audits. One system survived intact - that’s the Integrated Data Management Centre in Singha Durbar which was able to keep its core databases online, with a recovery site in Hetauda holding records for Nepal Rastra Bank, the Home Ministry, police, the company registry, the Nagarik App, and all 753 local governments. The Supreme Court had no similar system of backups.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
USAID Left Gaur and Newborn Deaths Returned
Gaur had cut neonatal deaths to zero before Washington dissolved USAID last year and removed the maternal health outreach workers who identified dangerous pregnancies early. Within months, newborns were dying again. Kabita Mukhiya spent weeks bleeding and swollen in her home outside Gaur before an aunt got her to a hospital, where doctors told her the baby she carried had died. Kabita then died too. The US State Department says it still supports maternal and child health programs in Nepal, without letting anyone know how much is invested or through whom.
Kathmandu Leaves Washington, Beijing and Delhi Posts Empty
Twenty-one ambassadorial posts are vacant or in transition, including Nepal's three most consequential relationships. Washington and Beijing have had no resident envoy since October 17, when the Karki government recalled 17 political appointees named by the Oli administration the previous July. Delhi lost its ambassador on April 5, less than two weeks into Balendra Shah's term, in addition to envoys for Australia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Denmark and South Africa. Seven career diplomats saw their four-year terms expire on July 21 and are now operating on an interim status as Kathmandu stalls on replacements. Missions in Brazil, Denmark and South Africa were already set for closure in the May 29 budget speech.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
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Finance Ministry Holds MCA-Nepal's Extension Letter
MCA-Nepal sent a one-year extension request to the Finance Ministry in mid-May, asking it to forward the letter to Millennium Challenge Corporation headquarters in Washington. Three months later, the letter has not been sent onward. The delay is a compounding of previous setbacks, including the October 2023 cancellation of bids for the compact's 315-km transmission line and Trump's July 2025 pause on US foreign assistance. The $747 million package is still due to finish by August 30, 2028. A senior finance ministry official confirmed the request had arrived and said it remained under discussion. An MCA-Nepal board member said MCC headquarters was “positive” about allowing the extension.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Banks Profit From Recoveries, Not New Credit
Nepal's 20 commercial banks booked Rs 69.78 billion ($459 million) in net profit for the fiscal year ended mid-July, which is up about a third from Rs 52.79 billion ($347 million). The economy remains weak and excess liquidity has remained dogged for a third year. Nepal Bankers' Association president Santosh Koirala said loan disbursement grew only marginally and that profits came largely from bad-loan recoveries and provision reversals.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
One Buffalo Deal Flattered Last Year's FDI
Foreign investment commitments fell to Rs 3.77 billion ($24.8 million) in the first month of fiscal year 2026/27, down from Rs 24.10 billion ($158.6 million) a year earlier, even though approved projects were increased from 127 to 191. The gap is mostly thanks to one 2025 approval, a Rs 20.45 billion ($134.5 million) processed buffalo meat factory to serve the China market. No similar large project appeared this year. Without that deal, the pipeline looks thinner but broader. IT made up 128 approved firms but only Rs 569.8 million ($3.7 million) in promised capital; 33 tourism projects drew Rs 1.63 billion ($10.7 million).
Read more: Online Khabar
Karnali Waits While Ministers Fly
Salyan's district hospital is sanctioned for eight specialists and has one. Maternity services have been suspended for a month for lack of a gynecologist, and the chief physician went on leave a week ago, leaving the hospital dependent on doctors hired under scholarship contracts. In nearby Rukum West, the situation is no better. The two hospitals each have 15 official beds but run up to 40 and see more than 200 patients a day between them. In Kathmandu, Nepali Congress Chief Whip Basana Thapa told Parliament the government spent between Rs 3 million ($19,700) and Rs 3.5 million ($23,000) to airlift a minister home for treatment, and families in Karnali are still waiting for basic care.
Read more: Asian News Network, myRepublica
TPS Ends for 7,000 Nepalis in the US
The Department of Homeland Security has ordered Nepalis on Temporary Protected Status to leave the United States or to expect deportation, ending a safeguard that was first given after the April 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. About 12,700 Nepalis once held TPS, and roughly 5,500 have converted to green cards over the past decade. The remainder will lose both legal residency and work permits. Nepalis are among nationals from twelve other countries, including Haiti, Honduras, Somalia, Venezuela and Afghanistan, who have been swept into termination notices. DHS told affected individuals to make immediate arrangements to leave the country.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
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