TRANSFER COST OF REMITTANCE HIGH IN COUNTRIES LIKE NEPAL SAYS WORLD BANK REPORT

COST OF REMITTANCE TRANFER TO NEPAL HIGH SAYS WORLD BANK REPORT
Kathmandu, 3 Dec.: A World Bank Migration and Development Brief released
this week says transfer of remittance continued to be high to countries like Nepal.

‘… remittance costs continued to be high, especially in Africa and in small
nations like Nepal, where remittances provide a lifeline to the poor,’ said the
report.
Depreciation of currencies of some large immigrant-exporting countries like
Nepal have created additional incentives for remittances as goods and services
in such countries became cheaper, the report said.
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ECONOMIC TARGETS ATTAINABLE SAYS NRB GOVERNOR
Kathmandu, 3 Dec.: The central bank has claimed the economic targets for the current fiscal year seem to be attainable if the figures have to be believed in, The Himalayan Times reports..

“The GDP growth rate of 5 per cent seems to be achievable as agriculture and non-agriculture sectors are reporting growth of 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively,” informed Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) governor Dr Yubraj Khatiwada during a press conference painting a rosy picture of economy. He singled out seven per cent inflation as the exception for being difficult to attain as supply side factors that are fuelling price rise are still at large. Despite the improvement in other fronts, inflation is still bobbling between eight to nine per cent due to fundamental externalities.

“The increased income of the householders has shifted the demand pattern while supply is not at par pushing the prices up, so bringing back the balance will take time,” pointed out governor Khatiwada. This year’s monetary policy estimated to expand broad money supply by 12.5 per cent to maintain the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) growth rate of 5 per cent and general inflation at 7 per cent. However, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected Nepal to be able to attain 3.75 per cent GDP growth with eight per cent inflation, this current fiscal year.

The monetary measures were aimed at maintaining Balance of Payment (BoP) surplus of Rs 5 billion to manage foreign exchange reserve to maintain the import of merchandise and services for minimum of six months.The BoP situation has hit the record surplus level at Rs 33.8 billion in the third month of current fiscal year. The current foreign reserve is enough to finance merchandise and service export for next 8.6 months.

“The BoP surplus is not a windfall gain as being depicted but the increased remittance inflow and service account surplus is accountable,” said governor explaining the reason behind incredulous growth in surplus amount in three months.

As for the current liquidity surplus in the banking sector, governor expressed his doubts that this could even turn out to be bubble has to be considered before trying to do away with the excess liquidity in haste.

Realty needs correction

KATHMANDU: The central bank governor has expressed that real estate market can be salvaged if the realtors are ready to opt for price correction. “If the artificially blown up prices of lands and houses are brought back to real level attracting more costumers is not difficult as Nepali have enough money at present,” he said. He also pointed out that Nepal Rastra Bank’s regulation of maintaining maximum lending to single sector up to 25 per cent is not hindrance for banks and financial institutions to increase credit to real estate. “The total exposure to realty is 18 per cent but banks do not have confidence on realty’s payback capacity so credit had contracted,” he pointed out.
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SAUDI ARABIA ACCEPTS HAND-WRITTEN PASSPORTS
Kathmandu, 3 Dec.: Saudi Arabia has decided to accept the passport for next few months. The forth prefered destination after Qatar, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing visa on handwritten passport last month, The Himalayan Times reports.

Saudi Arabia is accepting handwritten passport for next two months, said Udaya Raj Pandey, ambassador at Riyadh-based Nepali embassy. “They accept our request. Visa issuance in handwritten passport will start from next week,” he said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written Saudi government to continue handwritten passport for few months. Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies and Foreign Employment Association had been lobbying to continue handwritten passport for next one year.

The association had visited Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and asked to initiate diplomatic process to solve the crisis on Tuesday. The ministry has directed the embassy to talk to Saudi authorities and solve the problem.

Saudi is accepting handwritten passport for time being, said Prakash Karki, general secretary of Foreign Employment Association adding that machine readable passport is only the solution for long term.

According to him, Saudi Arabia had stopped visa issuance last month rising question on misuse of Nepali handwritten passport by Bangladeshi and Indian workers. Smuggle of Nepali passport to sent Bangladeshi and Indian nationals to Saudi Arabia had significantly increased in recent months.

About 500,000 Nepalis believed working in the destination. According to Department of Foreign Employment, the destination has hired around 31,307 Nepalis in first four months of current fiscal year.
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NEPALI HELD IN NEW DELHI IN AUTO THEFT RACKET
Kathmandu, 3 Dec.: A Nepali national, Ganga Bahadur Bhandari, who claims to be a film producer, has been arrested here for his alleged role in selling stolen Indian vehicles in Nepal, Mahesh Acharya reports in The Kathmndu Post from New Delhi.
According to the Delhi police, 45-year Bhandari, who hails from Kathmandu, used to buy vehicles stolen by auto lifters in India and sold them in Nepal at a 'very good price'.
During interrogation, Bhandari is said to have claimed that he has produced a Nepali film "Unko Samjhanama", under the banner of 'Jayant Film Productions' and a TV serial "Vakra Rekha" with the money he earned by selling the vehicles.
Bhandari, who was produced by the Delhi police before the media on Friday, was arrested with a stolen car from East Delhi's Anand Vihar.
During the press meet, Prabhakar, the Deputy commissioner of Police of East Delhi, told reporters that Bhandari has also been involved in counterfeiting Indian currency. Police said counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 8,000 in the denominations of 500 was also recovered from Bhandari.
Police claimed that Bhandari used to pay 75 percent of the amount to the auto lifters in Indian currency and the rest in counterfeit currency.
"It was a peculiar modus operandi used by Ganga, who has been involved in this crime for the past 16 years. It gave him larger profit margins," police said.
Bhanadari allegedly sold up to 750 cars in Nepal which he used to receive at different points on the Indo-Nepal border through his assistants.
"Ganga used to get the cars registered in Nepal with the help of Nepali customs officers by paying a fine and sometimes on the basis of forged papers and then sold these vehicles to customers in Nepal," police said.
Prior to this, Bhandari was arrested in Delhi around 10 years ago and had been in Tihar Jail for 2-3 months. After being freed on bail, Bhandari did not show up for trial and was declared Persistent Offender (PO) on two cases in Vasant Vihar, Delhi, police said.
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GROUNDWORK LAID FOR RESOLVING BOUNDARY ISSUE
Kahmandu, 3 Dec.:- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is laying the groundwork for resolving boundary disputes with India and China, including the height of Mt Everest, Anil Giri reports in The Kathmandu Post.
A two-day boundary presentation--chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha--held at the MoFA decided on Friday to sign the fourth boundary protocol with China in the near future, fixing the tri-junction points between Nepal, India and China in Kalapani area of west Nepal.
A meeting of Nepal-China Joint Inspection Committee (JIC) should have been held last year to settle the height of Mt Everest and fix the missing pillar no 57 on the Nepal-China border. “Despite repeated requests from the Chinese side, we could not forge a clear position on Mt Everest. It wasn't good to defer the decision for so long,” said a senior government official. We will send a request to the Chinese side to hold the third JIC meeting immediately after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's Nepal visit beginning December 20, said another official.
Director General of the Department of Survey, Krishna Raj BC, and senior MoFA officials from India and China desk had briefed DPM Shrestha on Nepal's boundary positions with India and China.
In April 2009, a joint secretary level Nepal-China boundary meeting had agreed to recognise snow and rock height of Mt Everest. The two sides had agreed that the snow height and rock height of Mt Everest are 8,848 metre and 8,844.43 metre, respectively.
During the meeting, the Nepali side had demanded that the globally recognised snow height of Everest be kept intact in the upcoming digitalised map. Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping had earlier announced Everest's height as 8,844.4 metre.
Nepal and China have prepared 53 sheets of border maps on the basis of a joint field inspection and survey based on the latest GPS technology.
Similarly, the officials maintained that a parliamentary panel in 1995 had made it clear that the source of the Mahakali River is Lipue hill, hence Kalapani lies in the Nepali side. “We have been stating that our boundary point in the west starts from the Mahakali River which is originated from Lipue hill. We have submitted our claim with cartographical proofs but the Indian side rejected it categorically. The Indian side maintains that there is a small river which is the source of the Mahakali not Lipue hill,” official privy to these meetings told the Post.
“We have asked DPM Shrestha to forward the issue to the highest political authority for its resolution,” the official said.
Officials stress the need for forging political consensus on Kalapani and Susta before signing strip maps with India.
There is a dispute about Susta as well. “In Kalapani, we need to fix the border point after discussions with both India and China as it is a tri-junction border area. The meeting decided to finalise the tri-junction point of western border to resolve the row,” said the official.
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