OPPOSITION TO DRAW UP DETAILED PROTEST PROGRAMMES THURSDAY: Kathmandu, 27 Sept. NC and UML have convened a meeting of other opposition parties Thursday to get their support and form a task force to manage a protest totople the government of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. The parties will draw up detailed protest programmes that holding black flag demonstrations against the government chief and ministers and gherao of Singha Durbar in the first phase. The second phase after Dasain will be intensified. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “There is a possibility of an independent candidate or a group taking up the national leadership if consensus is not reached. There will be no balance of power if the post of the prime minister is handed over to the Congress.” (Maoist Chief Prachanda, The Kathmandu Post, 27 Sept.) Nnnn NRB REVISES LIMITS ON PAYMNT FOR IMPORT Kathmandu, 27 Sept.: The Nepal Rastra Bank ( NRB ) has eased advance payment for the importers of goods and services, including lease from the third countries other than India, The Kathmandu Post reports. The new provision will now allow importers to send more than the maximum amount fixed by the central bank against guarantee issued by foreign banks. Under the exisiting NRB provision, traders can make advance of $30,000 to import goods against draft and TT, while the maximum advance payment for service import is $10,000. “The provision was eased to ensure that a payment beyond limit could also be made through formal channel,” said a senior NRB official, claiming that the latest move would discourage hundi and other illegal mode of payment. However, the new provision requires the importers to submit recommendation of their regulatory agency to make advance payment beyond the limit for service import. Such bank guarantee will only be applicable for a specific period. “If transactions are not done within the timeframe, such bank guarantee should be seized and informed to the central bank’s foreign exchange management department,” states the circular. Meanwhile, local-level financial institutions (FIs) have been allowed to extend credit to projects only if they and the collateral are situated in their licensed operating area. Issuing a circular on Wednesday, Nepal Rastra Bank ( NRB ) has ended the earlier arrangement under which they were allowed to lend to projects wherever they are if the collateral is in the working area. Only national-level banks and financial institutions have been allowed to lend to projects wherever they are against collateral anywhere in the country. The central bank has, however, permitted local-level FIs to issue hire purchase loans anywhere in the country. An NRB official said that the move had been taken to ensure their business activities carried out within certain area as they were licensed to increase financial access to that area. The central bank said if any local financial institution has already lent beyond the working area, the loan should be regularized by mid-July 2014. “Otherwise, they will have to keep 100 percent loan loss provisioning for such loans,” stated the circular. Meanwhile, the central bank has barred financial institutions that have already violated the provision of lending against collateral beyond the working area and have put provisioning from adjusting such provisioning as per the new regulation. Nnnn SEBON ASKS FOR TIME TO PREPARE REPORT ON COMMODITY MARKET The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has asked for more time to prepare regulations for the commodities market. The High Level Financial Sector Reforms Coordination Committee headed by the finance minister had directed it to have a draft ready by September 19, The Kathmandu Post writes.. Sebon Chairman Baburam Shrestha said that it would take around one month to write a first draft. “Although our team of experts have been working on the text on a war footing, it will take a month to finalise it,” he added. The government’s failure to regulate the newly formed commodities markets had resulted in large scale deception. A study conducted by Sebon has revealed that 80 percent of the investors in the markets had lost money. The survey also found that the markets had been conducting transactions in foreign exchange without the central bank’s approval as per the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. The Finance Ministry said that it had asked Sebon to complete a draft as soon as possible. “We expect that a draft will be prepared within a week,” said a ministry official. A scheduled meeting of the high level committee didn’t take place on Sept 19, and it is expected to be held soon where the draft regulation will be discussed. Meanwhile, two commodities markets, Commodities and Metal Exchange (Comen) and Nepal Derivative Exchange (NDEX), have come under attack from trade unions affiliated to the CPN-Maoist as they have been operating without regulations. Cadres of the All Nepal Revolutionary Trade Union Federation (ANRTUF) linked to the CPN-Maoist vandalized the Comen office on Sunday. They had trashed the office of NDEX a few days ago. According to ANRTUF coordinator Ramdip Acharya, their move against the commodities exchanges was symbolic, and it was carried out to draw the attention of the stakeholders to regulate the exchanges and address various anomalies that have surfaced recently. “We have been receiving complaints from different people for the last five to seven months that they had been cheated while investing in the exchanges,” said Acharya. “People also complained that since the exchanges are not regulated by government, they have nowhere to go and report their grievances.” But the exchanges said there is a process to address the grievances of investors, and that they were willing to do so. Nnnn SAUDI ARABIA AGREES TO SIGN LABOUR CONRACT Kathmandu, 27 Sept.: ATHMANDU, ATHMANDU: Saudi Arabia — one of the major job markets for Nepali migrant workers — has agreed to sign a labour agreement to protect the rights of migrant workers. It has principally agreed on the issue, said Nepali ambassador to the destination Udaya Raj Pandey, The Himalayan Times reports. Deputy labour minister Ahamod Saleh Al-Hmedan has agreed to a labour agreement, he said, adding that the labour contract will protect the rights of Nepali workers. “A labour contract will make it easy for Nepali workers to fight a legal battle regarding salary and other benefits,” he said. According to Pandey, Saudi Arabia has asked for women domestic workers to also be included in the contract. The destination, that employs about 500,000 Nepali migrant workers, has a huge demand for domestic workers. Two years back, it had asked Nepali government to provide 100,000 housemaids. However, government had refused to send Nepali women without a guarantee that they would be protected through proper labour laws. Gulf countries –– ruled by Islamic laws –– have designated housemaids as bonded labour to employers. Human Rights Watch has termed a housemaid’s job as ‘modern day slavery.’ Nepali officials visiting Saudi Arabia to explore the market and protection mechanisms have asked the Saudi government to offer amnesty to Nepali workers before implementing the labour contract. “We have asked Saudi Arabia to offer amnesty to workers for six months to solve old issues,” said director general of the Department of Foreign Employment Purna Chandra Bhattarai. Currently, more than 200 Nepalis are in Saudi jails for different crimes and thousands of Nepalis are illegally living there. Saudi officials from the Ministry of Labour have assured to talk about the issue with their counterparts at the Ministry of Home. “About 80,000 Nepalis will benefit from the amnesty,” said Pandey. According to Bhattarai, they talked on 11 issues including making the process of sending back the bodies of those workers who have lost their lives easier, and legalising illegal workers. Similarly, the team led by the secretary of ministry for labour and employment Som Lal Subedi discussed on simplifying the process of issuing identity cards to Nepali migrant workers. Employer companies have been creating problems while issuing identity cards to migrant workers who change jobs or have been cheated by outsourcing agencies. The Nepali embassy in Riyadh and the Labour Ministry of Saudi Arabia will have further discussions on the labour contract, said Bhattarai. The team visited Saudi recruiting agencies, shelter houses, deportation centre and the umbrella organisation of recruiting agencies — Saudi Manpower Service Company. nnnn