Nepal business, finance and trade news, every Wednesday.
UN Delays Nepal's LDC Graduation Until 2029
Nepal is going to stay on the list as a “least developed country” until 2029, three years longer than was anticipated, after the UN General Assembly approved the request. Trade preferences and other support that would otherwise have expired this November will stay in place during the extension. Bangladesh, which made the same request alongside with Nepal, was granted the same delay. Kathmandu said that it needed more time to get its house in order before the change and is Nepal's second reprieve. The UN previously postponed graduation after the 2015 earthquake, then gave the country five more years to prepare because of Covid.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (earlier graduation delays), myRepublica (Foreign Ministry announcement)
Supreme Court Steps Aside From Fixer Probe
The Supreme Court's full court will not investigate justices who have been connected to alleged fixer Inam Sapkota, and will instead leave the matter to unnamed "relevant authorities." The Constitution gives Parliament the power to impeach Supreme Court justices, and the ruling RSP has told lawmakers to start proceedings despite claims from a spokesman who said the party hadn’t made any decisions about who, exactly, it wanted to target.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (full court decision), myRepublica (impeachment threshold), myRepublica (Phuyal's leave), The Kathmandu Post (parliamentary procedure)
Anti-Graft Commission Charges Former PM
The anti-graft commission has charged former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal and 95 other people over a land swap that it claims cost the state Rs 735 million ($4.8 million). Rijal Canning and Company got an exemption from land limits on the condition that it run a fruit business in Sunsari and Morang, but then if failed to do so. Madhav Nepal's Cabinet instead allegedly allowed the company to swap two expensive plots in Biratnagar for less-valuable land in Banigama.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (97 defendants), Ratopati (Khadka suspension)
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Police, PMO Trade Blame for Journo Detentions
Plainclothes police detained three Kathmandu journalists, setting off a public round of blame, even thought they were released after a few hours. The men detained were Dhiraj Basnet of DNA Khabar, Shobhraj Baral of Motive News and Bishwamani Subedi of Nepal Press. Subedi had reported that police chief Dan Bahadur Karki was under pressure to resign. Police spokesman Abinarayan Kafle said the Cyber Bureau acted after the Prime Minister's Office raised concerns about misleading reports. Prime Minister Balendra Shah's office said it knew nothing in advance and that Shah was the one who ordered the men’s release.
Read more: Nepali Times (detentions and denials), The Kathmandu Post (meeting before the raids), Online Khabar (Press Council response)
Mahakali Canal Dry as India Withholds Water
A 28-kilometer canal that’s was built to irrigate 5,000 hectares in Kanchanpur has been dry since a trial four years ago. The Mahakali Treaty requires India to send water through the Tanakpur Barrage, but the Indian company running it says “no can do,” as it needs a go-ahead from Delhi. Nepal has spent Rs 10.74 billion ($71 million) on the third phase of the canal project and wants the PM to bring the stalled water release issue up during his expected upcoming visit to India.
Read more: myRepublica
Bank Profits Up Nearly 46% as Provisions Decline
Nepal's 20 commercial banks were able to increase their combined first-quarter profit by nearly 46 percent from a year earlier, to Rs 19.14 billion ($126 million). Smaller loan-loss provisions and cheaper deposits were the biggest tailwinds, even as interest income remained soft after years of tepid lending. Provisions nearly halved to Rs 10.99 billion ($72 million) as loan recovery improved. Nabil Bank was the industry leader, reporting Rs 2.55 billion ($17 million) in profit. Standard Chartered, Himalayan Bank and Prime Commercial Bank all reported declines.
Read more: myRepublica (bad-loan levels), myRepublica (lending slowdown)
Helicopters Collide Near Everest, Killing Passenger
An Indian passenger was killed when a Fishtail Air helicopter and an Air Dynasty helicopter collided while (attempting a) landing at Pheriche in Solukhumbu. A New Zealand passenger and the Fishtail pilot were injured. This appears to be Nepal's first midair helicopter collision. The Air Dynasty helicopter's rotor hit the Fishtail cabin windows. Pheriche is outside the Lukla control tower's coverage, so pilots need to coordinate landings between themselves and early reports suggest miscommunication between the pilots.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (victims and injuries), Online Khabar (air-safety gaps)
E-Procurement Back After Breach and Three Arrests
Nepal has restarted its e-GP bidding system more than two months after hackers were able to access (supposedly) confidential bids. The replacement, built by a government-owned software center, now encrypts proposals. In the meantime, agencies had made a return to paper forms, some of which were pilfered and have further resulted in the arrest of three people who are accused of changing financial proposals before bids opened.
Read more: Ratopati (new security features), myRepublica (arrests and allegations)
Supreme Court Orders Regs for Cannabis
The Supreme Court has given the government three months to come up with rules to license cannabis cultivation for medical, scientific and industrial uses. The rules must encompass production, processing, storage, sales and trade, in addition with being explicit about how to monitor unlicensed activity. The 1976 Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act already allows for some regulated cultivation, but a series of governments never got around to actually writing all the rules. Recreational use will remain illegal - the court rejected full decriminalization and kicked that decision back to Parliament.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (petition and treaty context), Nepyork (judges and penalties), Times of India (earlier reform efforts)
WB: Extreme Poverty Down to 2.4 Percent
The share of Nepalis living on less than $3 a day dropped from nearly three in four in the year 1995 to just 2.4 percent in 2022, the World Bank said. Although this ise remarkable progress, more than half of the country still lives below the $8.30-a-day benchmark for upper-middle-income countries. Nepal's calculations show a less-rosy tale, however, with almost one in five people living below the national poverty line of Rs 72,908 ($480) a year in per-person consumption.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
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