FOURTH DEADLINE MAY BE MISSED AS WELL Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: Parties haven’t made public transparent efforts to meet Monday’s forth presidential deadline to agree on a consensus prime minister to succeed Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and an assemble an acceptable government to conduct the April./May constituent assembly elections. The fourth deadline of President Dr, Ram Baran Yadav in 25 days ends as the head of state prepares to leave for a week-long India visit on the last week of December. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has made it clear he won’t quit despite opposition streets to take to pull down his government. Without talks to end a prolonged deadlock and refusal of the prime minister to step down ad meet opposition demands , it’s clear the fourth deadline will also be missed. The president is coming under increased parties from other parties for attempting to find repeated outlets by involving only the ruling coalition of Maoists and five Madeshbadi parties and opposition NC and UML. Other parties have demanded they should be included in efforts for a resolution. Some have demanded direct presidential involvement amid concerns national elections won’t be held in April/May. Premier Bhattarai has said elections won’t be held at the promised date if an outlet isn’t found by 18 December and the Election Commission .although it has started work,. Has said a vote can be held only if elections laws and updated and senior Commission offcials are appointed by 30 December. Nobody is working to meet those deadlines as well. Next election after April.May is possible only in September. October after the annual monsoon. Nepal may have to wait until that time for an outlet. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE "India failed to do what it should have done in Nepal to avert the political turmoil. It is the diplomatic failure of the Indian government. "I even asked our prime minister to talk to his Nepali counterpart to resolve the deadlock in Nepal, but no diplomatic attempts were made in that direction." (India’s man opposition BJP leader Rajnath Singh, The Kathmadu Post, 15 Dec.) “He expressed his worry that the apex court is running low on judges due to the political transition. “He admitted that the judiciary has failed to live up to the people's expectations. “The chief justice [Khil Raj Regmi] further said that it was an irony that the parties failed to draft the new constitution within the given time though the SC refused to extend the deadline of Constituent Assembly (CA) for timely constitution. “ (Report in The Kathmandu Post, 15 Dec.) INFLATION TOPS 10 PERCENT SAYS NRB Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: Despite fixing the maximum retail price, the government has failed to tame the market as prices are continuously looking up, burning a hole in pockets of common people, The Himalayan Times reports.. “The year-on-year inflation based on Consumer Price Index registered a double digit growth of 10.5 per cent in the fourth month (mid-November) of the current fiscal year against 8.5 per cent in the same period last fiscal year,” according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Indices of both food and beverages group, and non-food and services group, witnessed an increase by 8.9 per cent and 11.7 per cent, respectively, against 8.4 per cent and 8.5 per cent, in the corresponding period last fiscal year, the central bank data revealed, adding that the price index of ghee and oil sub-group increased by the highest rate of 20.5 per cent. Likewise, government apathy towards export promotion has hit the external sector too as trade deficit increased to Rs 152.38 billion in the four months. The country witnessed merchandise exports of Rs 26.46 billion in the first four months as against Rs 23.69 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. However, merchandise imports surged by 32 per cent to Rs 178.84 billion as compared to Rs 135.49 billion during the same period last fiscal year. “Due to the high growth of imports, the ratio of export to import stood at 14.8 per cent,” it said. But increasing imports have helped revenue surge. “The government was able to mobilise Rs 78.03 billion — some 30.2 per cent growth as compared to the same period last fiscal, when it had been able to mobilise Rs 59.92 billion — due to growing imports,” the data revealed. “But government expenditure stood at only Rs 70.38 billion, making a budget surplus of Rs 6.34 by mid-November.” Similarly, the Balance of Payments surplus also plunged to Rs 140.7 million — as compared to a surplus of Rs 46.31 billion during the same period last fiscal year — due to current account deficit that stood at Rs 1.77 billion in contrast to a surplus of Rs 20.73 billion in the same period last fiscal. “The deficit in the current account was primarily due to a substantial rise in the imports of merchandise, the deficit in the net services income compared to a surplus in the corresponding period in the previous year, and the slow growth of workers’ remittance in the review period,” it said, adding that net transfers registered a growth of 20.4 per cent to Rs 143.94 billion. “Under transfers, workers’ remittance surged by 23.4 per cent to Rs 127.35 billion. Under financial account, the country saw foreign direct investment of Rs 2.64 billion.” The gross foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by 0.7 per cent to Rs 442.33 billion in mid-November from a level of Rs 439.46 billion as at mid-July. The forex reserves had increased by 25.9 per cent to Rs 342.74 billion in the same period of last fiscal year. Likewise, foreign cash loan and grants also halved as compared to the same period last fiscal year. “The government received foreign cash loans of Rs 0.70 billion and foreign cash grants of Rs 4.59 billion in the four months of the current fiscal year as compared to Rs 1.55 billion foreign cash loans and Rs 11.52 billion foreign cash grants in the same period of last fiscal year,” it added. Deposit mobilisation slows down Deposit mobilisation of banks and financial institutions increased by only 2.9 per cent (Rs 29.24 billion) during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to an increase of 6.6 per cent (Rs 54.57 billion) in the same period last fiscal year. Among them, commercial banks are the losers as their deposit mobilisation has decreased dramatically. “Deposit mobilisation of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies increased by 1.7 per cent, 5.1 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively, against an increase of 7.6 per cent, 4.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent in the same period last fiscal year, central bank said.. nnnn