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The price of gold has dropped by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Monday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 109, 100 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 109, 300 per tola on Sunday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 108, 600 per tola. It was traded at Rs 108, 800. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 20 and is being traded at Rs 1,420 per tola today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 18. 80 points to close at 1,885.60 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 4. 00 points to close at 359. 13 points. A total of 2,734,307-unit shares of 265 companies were traded for Rs 828 billion. Meanwhile, Sunrise Bluechip Fund and Adarsha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Sunrise Focused Equity Fund was the top loser with its price dropping by 10. 00 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 74 trillion.

After the government eased import restrictions, the country's imports increased for the second straight month. Nepal imported goods worth Rs 143.123 billion in Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the highest on a month-to-month basis, in the current fiscal year. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), which resorted to strict import-cutting measures a year ago after foreign exchange reserves depleted drastically, is said to be watching the rise in imports closely as this growth can again derail the external sector of the economy. The country had imported goods worth Rs 139.22 billion in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), an increase of 10 percent compared to Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 142.31 billion in Bhadra (mid-August-mid-September), the second highest on a month-to-month basis in FY 2022/23. However, the country's total imports in the first nine months of the current fiscal year are lower than the last fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal imported goods worth Rs 1,201.508 billion in the current fiscal year compared to Rs 1,466.662 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. The imports during the first nine months of this fiscal have declined by 18.08 percent. With the government imposing restrictions on luxury items and NRB introducing cash margin provisions on Letters of Credit issuance, the imports have declined till mid-February. The country's Balance of Payment (BoP) has remained positive by Rs 148.11 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal year while foreign exchange reserves also increased by 15.2 percent to Rs1401.21 billion till mid-March, according to NRB data. Though these restrictive measures contributed to reducing imports and improving the country's external sector, they also resulted in a huge decline in government revenues which are heavily reliant on imports. The slowdown in revenue collection forced the government to lift import restrictions on the imports of vehicles, alcohol, and expensive mobile phones in mid-December, 2022. The central bank also removed the provision of cash margin in January this year. Along with the surge in imports, the amount of money going out of the country for education abroad has also increased significantly. A total of Rs 54.7 billion went out of the country in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, an increment of 80 percent. Central bank officials say they are observing the situation cautiously. "If the imports continue to surge, it would put pressure on the external sector," said Dr. Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Executive director of NRB. According to him, the source of foreign exchange income is not strong at the moment. "Currently, Nepal is receiving monthly remittances of around Rs 100 billion which is not enough to cover the imports." Monthly Import Bill

There has been a sharp rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) of commercial banks as they grapple with economic recession, the slowdown in loan recovery, and debt servicing. The unaudited financial reports of 21 commercial banks for the third quarter of the current fiscal year 2022/23 show their NPL has reached 3.03 percent, an increase of a whopping 148 percent compared to the same period of the last fiscal year. The NPL of the commercial banks stood at 1.21 percent as of mid-April, 2022. The banks have been dealing with growing bad loans in the current fiscal year. The NPL of commercial banks stood at 2.29 percent till the second quarter of this fiscal (mid-January 2023). The third quarter reports show NPL has further deteriorated in the last three months. Bankers attribute the rise in NPL to the slowing economic activities coupled with higher interest rates, and borrowers' inability to repay debts. According to them, loan recovery and debt servicing have become difficult of late. According to Sanima Bank CEO Nischal Raj Pandey, the rise in NPLs is basically due to the chain impacts of the economic downturn. "The cash flow in the market has been affected severely. In addition, the demand for goods and services has also declined dramatically," said Pandey. Besides, the government's inability to pay billions of rupees it owes to the contractors has added problems, according to Pandey. He says that borrowers related to the construction sector have not been able to repay their loans. "With the slowdown in the real estate and stock market, common people's investments have gotten trapped," said Pandey. With the sharp rise in NPLs, the loan loss provisions of banks have also increased. As per the unaudited financial reports for the third quarter of banks, the amount for provisioning has increased by 341 percent. Banks have set aside Rs 30.86 billion for loan loss provisions till mid-April 2023 compared to Rs 7 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. The total provisioning amount of banks increased by Rs 23.86 billion in the last 12 months. Among the commercial banks, NPLs of three banks crossed 4 percent. Himalayan Bank has the highest NPL of 4.56 percent, followed by the Agricultural Development Bank with 4.35 percent, and Nepal Bank with 4.16 percent. Four banks have managed to keep their NPL below 1 percent. Nepal SBI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, NIC Asia Bank, and Everest Bank have less than 1 percent NPL. SBI's NPL stood at 0.97 percent, Standard Chartered’s at 0.90 percent, NIC Asia's at 0.85 percent, and Everest's at 0.70 percent. The rise in NPL levels and provisioning amount has hit the commercial banks' profit in the current fiscal year. The profit of banks surged by 11.68 percent to Rs 48.70 billion by the third quarter of this fiscal. The banks' profit stood at Rs 43.61 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Among the commercial banks, Nabil Bank posted the highest profit of Rs 5.11 billion in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. The Global IM Bank is at number two with a profit of Rs 4.35 billion followed by NIC Asia with Rs 4.01 billion. Banks' NPL