KATHMANDU: All economic indicators have shown negative trend after the Nepali Congress left the office three years ago. The GDP growth rate has come down to 3.5 per cent from 5.8 three years ago. Balance of Payments has been seeing deficit for two consecutive years from a surplus Rs 30 billion. The export-import ratio has declined by half. The industrial production is down. The country is facing double digit inflation from a level of 7.7 per cent three years back. Nepse has shed about 60 per cent of the stock value. Public consumption has been rising at the expense of capital investment as s...
Published On: 2011-07-14

The failure of the government yesterday to present the budget at the parliament after a threat of showdown by Madhesh-based parties is indicative of the political turmoil in the country and the inability of the parties in power to generate political consensus. While a majority government in power has the right to adopt its own fiscal and economic policies, these need the approval of the parliament. At a time when there is intense competition among political parties, there is a real threat that the parties in power can misuse the national budget to appease their political base and sacrifice l...
Published On: 2011-07-14

During my visit to a few villages of Sarlahi district last year, I noticed Yadavs as the majority population. The Yadavs are normally more sensitive as regards their traditions and customs. The villages feature in both the economic and social discrimination chart across different castes. However, social discrimination is much more intense than economic inequality, with a deeply-rooted caste system. The people of the lower caste are particularly known as Dalits or untouchables. Most of them work on the land that belongs to the upper caste villagers, either on wages or on lease. This way they ...
Published On: 2011-07-14

Everyone has their own special place that they call home. Home is often referred to as a physical location where someone resides. But as the saying goes “home is where the heart is” comes into full swing. Home can be anywhere; people would define home differently according to their own experiences in life. Other people may say that a home is composed of all the wealth the family has. Others may say it’s the binding of each family member that makes a home. We see the world green around us, we hear the humming of the birds, the cool breeze from outside the window, then we sme...
Published On: 2011-07-14

Only blame game rife All the major political parties of new Nepal have been widely exposed because of their inter and intra-party factional politics, thus, severely hampering the peace process and the drafting of the new constitution that are to be completed by the end of the extended three months time, in accordance with the five-point deal. Senior Maoist leaders seem busy in blaming and undermining each other in the name of “people’s war” as reported in “Baidya-Bhattarai camp busy flexing muscles” (THT, July 13, Page 1). Likewise, the Nepali Congress (NC) senio...
Published On: 2011-07-14

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has come to the rescue of the cash-strapped banks and financial institutions (BFIs) in dire straits. It should have come quite some time back, yet it is a rejuvenating whiff of breeze for the BFIs. The new provision of the central bank regarding residential housing and real estate loans and loans against shares has come as life-savers. According to it, the borrowers who pay the outstanding interests are now able to renew the loan they have taken for real estate. Another decision of the NRB is to increase the home loan limit to Rs. 8 million which was previously Rs...
Published On: 2011-07-13

Recently, there was a comment from a former executive of the central bank on the basic fundamentals of interest rate pricing of commercial banks. He had said that the public should be aware of the health of the financial institutions rather than being carried away by the interest rate offered by these institutions while choosing to deposit their hard earned savings. He was making the public aware about the basic principle of pricing of banks’ resources and utilization by saying that the institutions offering higher rate for their raw materials would in turn have to price their loans hi...
Published On: 2011-07-13

Three years ago, an American volunteer school teacher happened to meet a youth, who proposed her for a Pokhara tour, saying he had four vehicles courtesy his father who was an industry minister. Surprised by such an unexpected offer from an unknown person, she simply declined. The facilities provided and the bill is footed by the government, but the person/s concerned use it as family possessions. Another incident is of a senior student union leader asking for cell phone donation from mobile houses in New Road, as he had lost his mobile set.These are textbook examples of the web of corrupti...
Published On: 2011-07-13

Self-centred politicians The political parties are involved in intra and inter-party quarrels. Most of their squabbles are petty in nature, springing from the egos of the leaders. Nepal is now in a transient period, and cannot afford this disunity for the task of writing the constitution and taking the peace process of a logical end are very urgent. The leaders and the political parties are playing the vile game with the destiny of the people and the country. The fighting is getting to be more and more bitter with the passage of every day, and it will get uglier in the future unless the con...
Published On: 2011-07-13

The budget for the fiscal year 2011/2012 is slated to be presented in the Legislature Parliament tomorrow. This time around the expectations from the budget is not high considering the fact that the coalition partners are trying to have their say only, leaving the fulfilment of the people’s desires and needs to the backbenches. However, the hints that are floating in the market do not suggest anything to be upbeat about what is going to be announced on Thursday. The challenges in front of the UML-led government is similar to what it was for the previous government. Only the dateline has ...
Published On: 2011-07-12