Kathmandu, April 11, 2007

The Nepal Telecom Employees’ Association (NTEA) today gave away various awards and scholarships to the telecom employees and their children to mark its 17th anniversary amidst a programme here.

The NTEA gave away scholarship worth Rs 3,500 each to seven children of its employees who secured good marks in the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of 2006. Swastina Shrestha, daughter of Nepal Telecom staffer Hari Bahadur Shrestha, was awarded gold medal for securing 88 per cent in the SLC in 2006.

The NTEA felicitated five of its employees for their extra performance. Laxmi Kanta Shrestha was felicitated for being the first woman deputy managing director, Ram Chandra Adhikari for his acting in Nepali movies, Jyoti Ghimire for his musical career, Sunita Sharma for topping architecture department in the Institute of Engineering and Dilip Kumar Burma for securing gold medal from the Kathmandu University in BE (Power & Electronic Communication).

Kumar Jung Karki, programme organising committee member, said Nepal Telecom employees will always strive for quality service. Sushil Chandra Amatya, president of the Federation of Nepalese Professionals, said such programmes help maintain coordination among the employees.

Foreign trade sector takes further beating

With a continuous fall in exports and a steady deceleration in imports, Nepal’s foreign trade continues to present a gloomy picture over the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

Slowdown in external demand for Nepali goods, long hours of load shedding, and the prolonged period of unrest in Terai, among others factors accounted for the poor performance of the export sector in the review period, states a Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) report on the current macroeconomic situation.

During the first seven months of 2006-07, total exports fell by 3.9 per cent to Rs 35.67 billion, in contrast to an increase of 12.2 per cent in the corresponding period of 2005-06. Nepal had exported various goods worth Rs 37.12 billion during the period. Of total exports, export to India declined by 5.4 per cent to Rs 24.69 billion as against a sharp increase of 22.8 per cent to Rs 26.10 billion in the same period of 2005-06.

Likewise, exports to other countries fell by 0.4 per cent in comparison to a decline of seven per cent a year earlier. The decline in exports to India was attributed to the decline in the exports of polyester yarn, cattle-feed, plastic utensils, GI pipes, pulses and noodles.

Likewise, the decline in exports to other countries was due to a decrease in the export of woollen carpets, readymade garments, pashmina, handicrafts and jewelleries.

Total imports decelerated by 0.3 per cent to Rs 102.79 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal.