NEPALGUNJ RESIDENT KILLED IN A VEHICULAR ACCIDENT IN CAPITAL Kathmandu, 10 Nov.: A resident of Nepalgunj was killed Saturday at Sundhara in a vehicular accident . His motorcycle was his by a mini-van. Nnnn EVEREST TOOTHPASTE BACK IN MARKET Kathmandu, 10 Nov.: Everest toothpaste is back in the market after three Years. The toothpaste is a product of Everest Chemicals .Pvt.Ltd. Maoist Chairman Prachanda Friday launched the comeback from the capital. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “Every cloud has a silver lining. Thus, we should hang in for some more time to have a pleasant dawn.People do not wish to get back to the old era. To eradicate the problems of abject poverty and illiteracy, we have to wait for some more time,” (PM Bhattarai, The Himalayan Timesm 10 Nov.) Nnnn RBB ACHIEVING POSITIVE NET WORTH Kathmandu, 10 Nov.: State-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank ( RBB ) is on track to attain a positive net worth for the first time in a decade. According to RBB , its capital will turn positive by the second quarter of the fiscal year after the government okays its proposal to convert special drawing rights (SDR) worth Rs 2.5 billion into domestic currency. Currently, RBB ’s capital is negative by Rs 2.5 billion, Prithvi Man Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The country’s largest commercial bank has sent its plan to change SDRs into Nepali rupees to the Finance Ministry. “Once the government endorses our proposal, we will have a positive net worth for the first time in a decade,” said CEO Krishna Prasad Sharma. The bank’s financial health has been improving rapidly following a recapitalization plan under which the government has injected Rs 4.32 billion. In addition to the money provided by the government, the profits earned by the bank have helped it to reduce its negative net worth. RBB had gone into a tailspin due to huge loan defaults. In July 2003, when a diagnostic review of its financial status was made, its net worth was negative by Rs 22.39 billion. Its non-performing loans had reached above 60 percent of the total loans. Subsequently, the government implemented the Financial Sector Reform Programme at RBB by hiring a foreign management team with assistance from the World Bank. Though the scheme failed to restore RBB to good health and privatise it as expected, it did help to reduce the bank’s non-performing loans drastically. After the programme ended in December 2011, the government appointed a new CEO at RBB in January 2012 through open competition. The government also endorsed the bank’s recapitalization plan by agreeing to inject cash. As per the recapitalization plan endorsed last year, the bank needs Rs 8.5 billion to fulfil its core capital (Tier 1) requirement that it plans to do within the next two years. Similarly, it needs Rs 12.5 billion to be restored to good health. RBB has planned to raise the rest of the money by issuing debentures within the next three years. RBB possesses government bonds worth Rs 780 million. Its paid-up capital stands at Rs 1.17 billon and has crossholding shares in Nepal Investment Bank. The government has already decided to merge RBB with state-owned NIDC Develop-ment Bank which will increase its paid-up capital by Rs 410 million. “With these resources in hand, we are in the process of recapitalizing the bank at a faster pace and make it healthy again,” said Sharma. nnnn HOTEL BOOKINGS DOWN IN NOV. Kathmandu, 10 Nov.: Hotel bookings for November have dropped slightly, but receipts are expected to maintain course due to a tariff hike, said hoteliers. Five-star hotel executives reported that the fall in occupancy could pull down the figures for autumn (September-November), the country’s peak tourist season. They said that occupancy had been good in October, Sangam Prasai writes in The Kathmandu Post. A tariff hike implemented in September is expected to boost revenue despite a projected 2-3 percent decline in occupancy this season. Almost all the hotels reported record occupancy and earnings in November last year. Kathmandu’s five-star properties had hiked the room rates by 15-25 percent in September. According to them, a drop in business and corporate clients this season has contributed to the dip in occupancy. Bharat Joshi, resident manager at the Hotel Yak & Yeti, said that they had confirmed reservations of 81 percent for November and is likely to end at 84 percent. Last November, the hotel had more than 88 percent occupancy. Its occupancy in October was 88 percent, up 5 percent. “However, December booking is very nominal.” As of now, we have only 40 percent booking for December. He said that the MICE segment was discouraging this season. “We sold 695 and 301 room nights for foreign conferences in October and November respectively, but this year it dropped to 315 and 201 respectively,” Joshi said, adding that improved trekkers movement, however, has fulfilled the gap this season. This October, the Yak & Yeti earned Rs 64.5 million in room revenue, compared to Rs 55 million last year. The average room rate of the hotel is US$ 98. According to the Shangri-La Hotel, October occupancy this year was 87 percent, up 6 percent. However, November occupancy is likely to drop slightly this year. The hotel is likely to see a 2-3 percent drop in occupancy this November, said Senior General Manager Raju Bikram Shah. “Overall, we are likely to close at 90 percent occupancy year on year.” Shah added that due to a hike in the tariff this season, revenue is expected to jump despite a drop in overall occupancy. British visitors are the major clients of the Shangri-La followed by French and Australians. Another five-star property, Hotel Annapurna, said its October occupancy was 77 percent while the figure for November is likely to be the same. Raj Bikram Shah, sales and marketing director of the Hotel Annapurna, said a drop in the number of European and Indian clients this season could be the contributing factor for the fall in occupancy. “We are likely to see a 10 percent fluctuation in occupancy this season,” he said. According to government statistics, five-star hotels had 85.96 percent and 77.43 percent room occupancy in November and October respectively last year. The eight five-star properties in Kathmandu produced 134,225 rooms in September-November out of which 104,411 were occupied last year. Nepal witnessed a negative growth in monthly tourist arrivals for the first time since June 2009. Arrivals via air dropped 7.3 percent to 67,901 in October, the peak tourist season. The unexpected drop in arrivals has been attributed to a substantial decline in the number of visitors from the South Asian and European markets. The number of tourists from South Asia and Europe dropped notably by 28.5 percent and 17.5 percent respectively in October. The South Asian market accounts for 33 percent of the total arrivals, followed by the European market (nearly 30 percent). Meanwhile, hoteliers and travel trade entrepreneurs said although the country saw a decline in European visitors, the market was corrected by improved arrivals from the US and UK. The US Department of State removed Nepal from its negative travel advisory in December last year, citing improved political conditions in Nepal, and it could be the factor for the increased arrivals from the US market, said travel trade entrepreneurs. nnnn