AGREEMENT TO RENEW PRACHANDA SUB-COMMITTEE TENURE

AGREEMENT TO RENEW PRACHANDA SUB-COMMITTEE TENURE

Kathmandu, 31 May: Major parties agreed Tuesday to renew the tenure of an empowered sub-committee chaired by Chairman Prachanda to resolve contentious points to be included in a proposed constitution.
Parties agreed to an extension of the tenure which ended Friday at a meeting called by Speaker Subash Nemwang.
A meeting of a main constitution drafting committee headed by Nilambar Acharya will take a formal decision Wednesday.
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UML CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETS TUESDAY

Kathmandu, 31 May: Central committee of UML leading the communist majority government meets later Wednesday.
The committee will discuss implementation of Sunday’s five-point agreement between UCPN (Maoist),NC and UML.
It will also discuss designating internal party responsibilities and meeting of a national representative council
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PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE TO MONITOR FIVE-POINT AGREEMENT

Kathmandu, 31 May: A parliamentary committee headed by Speaker Subash Nemwang is being formed to monitor a five-point agreement between UCPN(Maoist), main opposition NC and UML
leading the communist majority government.
The Sunday morning agreement initialed by the chiefs of the Big Three Sunday facilitated the three-month extension of a constituent assembly (CA) ‘temporarily saving; it.
Nemwang has asked parties to nominate members to the proposed body.
Such a monitoring committee wasn’t formed when the CA term was extended by one year in May 2011.
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INFLATION 10.6 PERCENT

Kathmandu, 31 May: Inflation in mid-April measured by consumer price index was 10.6 percent compared to 14.6 percent in the same period last year, figures released by Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) said.
But food and beverage price jumped 17.3 percent.
Non-food and service group prices increased 5.2 and 16.1 percent respectively.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“As we do not have any religious marathon, I’m sure this will be a very unique marathon and the first of its kind in the world.

(Thai Ambassador Maris Sangiapong proposing Buddhist Circuit Marathon in 2012, Republica, 31 May)
‘The name of a common front hasn’t been finalized right now. A front of small parties is being discussed now.”

(Co-Chairmanof Rashtriya Janashakti Party Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohini, Nagarik, 31 May)
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BoP TOUCHES Rs. 14.79 BILLION

Kathmandu, 31 May: The country’s Balance of Payment (BoP) deficit has once again started to worsen. Despite deceleration in the growth rate of trade deficit and improvement in export, BoP deficit has reached Rs 14.79 billion as of mid-April, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) statistics, The Kathmandu Post reports..

The central bank had planned to bring down the deficit to nil within the first five months of the current fiscal year from a whopping Rs 23 billion last year, but failed. A negative balance of payment means more money is flowing out of the country than coming in.

The situation had improved dramatically at the beginning of the current fiscal year with the deficit hovering around just Rs 310 million, but the situation started to worsen from the second month.

The deficit jumped to Rs 12.57 billion in the seventh month from Rs 5 billion, and continued to remain above Rs 10 billion. Because of the chronic BoP deficit, the country’s foreign exchange reserve has continued to remain low over the last several months compared to the corresponding months last year. The forex reserve declined by 5.9 percent to Rs 253 billion in the first nine months compared to same period last year.

“The constant BoP deficit is a result of slow reimbursement of foreign aid,” said Maha Prasad Adhikari, deputy governor of NRB. In the first nine months, both transfer of grant and loans have decreased, according to NRB. The grant transfer declined to Rs 15.76 billion from Rs 19.72 billion and loan transfer came down to Rs 3.1 billion from Rs 3.43 billion.

Adhikari, however, said the situation has improved in May. Despite worsening BoP situation, the central bank was firm on its projection of achieving a surplus of Rs 9 billion in BoP at the end of the year, in the mid-term review of the monetary policy.

Former president of Nepal Bankers’ Association Sashin Joshi said low disbursement of foreign aid and increased growth in loan repayment could be the reason behind the continual BoP deficit.

As the country’s trade deficit has improved with slowed import growth and increasing export, this cannot be the reason behind increasing BoP deficit. Export grew by 5.7 percent and import by a mare 2.8. That’s why trade deficit grew by a marginal 2.2 percent. Last year, export had declined by 10.9 percent and import had grown by 39.4 percent. Rising price of petroleum products could contribute to increasing BoP deficit.

However, a former senior NRB official said unauthorised import of gold and rising capital flight might have fuelled the BoP deficit. Gold traders say they are largely dependent on smuggled gold as purchasing gold from banks is complicated.

The International Monetary Fund has already provided Nepal around $42 million under its rapid credit facility which is given to countries facing serious BoP deficit. As Nepal is struggling to improve its BoP situation, the government has also asked IMF to provide loan under its extended credit facility (ECF) window to improve the situation. Under ECF, Nepal can get up to Rs 9 billion from IMF.
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