NEPALI, CHINESE WORKERS INJURED Kathmandu, 30 Aug.; Two Nepali and Chinese workers were injured Wednesday when a landslide trioggered by heavy rain hit the Trishuli-3 A, Nepal Samacharpatra reports. Forty-seven Chinese and 23 Nepali workers have been shifted from their camp to an army facility nearby with boulders hurling down the mountain slope. nnnn NRB SAYS NO US DOLLAR CRUNCH BUT ANNOUNCES CURB ON ITS ISSUE Kathmandu, 30 Aug.: While the central bank’s statistics show a record-high foreign exchange reserve, people are finding it hard to get US dollar in cash form from commercial banks, PrithviMan Shresthawrites in The Kathmandu Post.. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and commercial banks have admitted that there has been shortage of US dollar in cash form for the past few weeks. The central bank has told the banks to discourage making payment in cash form. “We have asked them not to provide more than $500 for a person traveling abroad in cash form,” said a senior NRB official. In its notice issued on Wednesday, the central bank requested to get foreign exchange in other forms such as traveler’s cheques and foreign exchange bearing pre-paid cards and credit cards beyond certain limit. The NRB has also asked the people traveling abroad to get foreign currency of the same country where they are traveling. The official said that the NRB has told the banks to maintain adequate traveler’s cheques. “We also have other foreign currencies such as euro to provide to the people traveling abroad,” said the central bank official. The central bank said that it would be less risky if travelers use cash for miscellaneous spending and other instruments for bigger payments instead of using cash to make all kinds of payment. “The banks have adequate alternative instruments,” states the NRB statement. Bankers said that there has been shortage of US dollar in cash since the last one month. “The availability of cash has declined by 50 percent in the recent days,” said a banker. Both central bank and bankers said that tourists abandoned bringing foreign currency in cash form, resulting in shortage of cash. However, a banker pointed to the payment for the goods that were imported by under invoicing at the customs office and increased capital flight as other factors leading to the present problem. The shortage looks to have connection with a flexible policy on foreign exchange adopted by monetary policy for FY 2012-13. As per the new monetary policy, a person can get up to $ 2500 at a time as passport facility irrespective of frequency of travel abroad. Earlier, the facility was limited to two times a year. It has also provisioned that those going for trade promotion and conferences can get up to $ 5000 at a time. Another central bank official also said that the fact that wider use of dollar to make payments for imports from Khasa, Tibet has also contributed to the shortage of greenback. Khasa-based traders do transactions in Nepali currency which they latter bring to exchange bureaus in Kathmandu and take away US dollar, according to the NRB official. The shortage of dollar is, however, expected to encourage people to opt for other instruments for traveling abroad. “As there are a lot of alternatives, we should not get panicked about shortage of cash,” said another banker. Although the shortage of US dollar in cash form appeared lately, the country has been witnessing a shortage of Indian currency note for a while now. As a result, the IC notes are exchanged at rates as high as Rs 170 as against NRB’s fixed rate of Rs 160.15p for IRs 100 in the bordering towns with India. CONROL ON IC AS WELL Bibek Subedi reports in The Kathmandu Post: The central bank has placed a limit on the amount of Indian currency (IC) that can be exchanged by importers in a bid to control misappropriation. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has allowed banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to provide exchange facility of up to IRs 3 million at a time for importing goods or services from India. The new provision has made it mandatory for firms to get prior approval from NRB if they want to exchange more than the limit. According to NRB, this provision was brought to control misappropriation of IC which is rampant in the country at present. “Earlier, there was no limit, but a large number of cases of IC misappropriation have forced us to issue such a directive,” said Lila Prakash Sitaula, executive director of NRB. “However, this directive will not bar genuine importers from getting larger amounts if can produce the proper paperwork.” NRB said that the directive would not only control misuse of IC, but also help the central bank to assess its requirement more precisely. “Implementation of this directive will also help us to know about the stock of IC in our financial system,” said Sitaula. Industrialists, however, are not very happy at the latest move by the central bank. “We should be allowed to get the desired amount of IC from BFIs upon producing genuine documents,” said Sahil Agrawal, joint director of the Shankar Group. “Now, NRB has already brought the directive. So the process of getting approval should be hassle free.” But there is some good news for importers. The central bank has allowed them to import goods from sole distributors and agents while importing goods from India against convertible currency. Earlier, goods could be imported only from the producers. The foreign exchange department of NRB issued the directive to facilitate imports, according to a senior NRB official. “Importers were facing problems when importing products like special automobile parts and special construction equipment as they are not exported by the producers directly,” said Sitaula. “For some goods, it was almost impossible to import them and it was necessary to create such a rule.” According to NRB, the earlier policy allowing imports only from the producers was implemented to combat possible misappropriation of foreign currency. “When importing from other parties, there was a possibility of irregularities in pricing,” said Sitaula. “But these days there is a provision whereby exporters in India have to fill ARE1 forms for export clearance.” He added that such a provision had made it easier to know the exact price and had minimized possible irregularities. Industrialists welcomed the NRB decision and said that it would be very helpful to them. “Not all the producers in India are involved in trading. Instead, they appoint authorised distributors,” said Agrawal. “This decision by NRB will contribute to streamlining imports of certain products.” Recently, NRB also increased the limit on imports in convertible currency which are done through draft or telegraphic transfer. nnnn INCIDENCES OF VIRAL FEVER, TYPHOID ON RISE Kathmandu, 30 Aug.: The number of patients suffering from viral fever, cold and typhoid is increasing in various districts across the country. Sunu Shrestha, auxiliary nurse midwife at a sub health post in Jayakhani, Gulmi, said 50 patients of viral fever visit the health post on a daily basis while the number was around 20 earlier. Viral fever has spread in VDCs, including Arbeni, Jayakhani, Purtirghat, Khadgakot and Phoksing, for the past two weeks. Chief of the District Hospital Dr Hari Bahadur KC said that viral fever had spread in eastern areas of the district too. “Viral fever has spread in almost all rural areas. However, there has not been any danger regarding the disease as necessary medicines have been dispatched to rural health institutions and health workers have been deployed at the affected areas,” he said. Senior assistant health worker at a sub health post at Arbeni, Giriraj Bhandari, said that almost every household in rural areas has at least a patient suffering from cold, viral fever or typhoid. Bhandari, who himself complained of viral fever, said the practice of patients not visiting health centres for treatment on time has made the matter worse. In Nawalparasi, viral fever and typhoid have spread in a Dalit settlement at Ramgram VDC-6. Local resident Ghan Shyam Harijan said almost all children and the elderly are suffering from the diseases. Chief of the District Public Health Office Dr Ram Lakhan Shah said his office was not informed of the diseases so far. He said that patients can receive free treatment if they visit district hospital. The District Hospital in Okhaldhunga is receiving an increasing number of patients of viral fiver and typhoid. Dr Pratap Babu Pandey said the hospital receives around 60 patients suffering from viral fever on a daily basis. The 15-bed hospital is facing difficulties to deal with the increasing number of patients due to a lack of adequate beds. In Panchthar, regular classes in school have been affected as many children are suffering from viral fever that has spread in the district for the past two weeks. Bhairabkali Higher Secondary School at Duipiple in Lamjung has shut down its classes after its many students were suffering from viral fever for the past one week. (With inputs from district correspondents) nnnn