Submit your Article

The price of gold has increased by Rs 1, 200 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 107, 500 per tola today. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 107, 000 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 25 and is being traded at Rs 1,395 per tola today.

With the continuing bearish run of the country's stock market, the capital gains tax (CGT) from stock trading has fallen dramatically in the current fiscal year. The latest official statistics show CGT has declined by a whopping 84.68 percent in the first six months of FY 2022/23. The government has collected Rs 1.23 billion in CGT in the first half of the current fiscal year compared to Rs 8.06 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year. This year, Rs 491.5 million has been collected in CGT from long-term share trading and Rs 744.1 million from short-term share trading. During the same period in the last fiscal, Rs 2.22 billion was collected from long-term share trading and Rs 5.84 billion from short-term share trading. The CGT collection from trading of shares has taken a beating as the stock market has been in a bearish run for over the last one year. Stock investors are required to pay taxes to the government only after earning profit in the share trading. In the current fiscal year, the stock market has fallen significantly. As most of the investors have suffered losses in share trading, tax collection from stock trading also has declined. According to CDS & Clearing Limited (CDSC) Spokesperson Suresh Neupane, the revenue collection from the stock trading has decreased due to the decline in the NEPSE index and turnover. "Investors will pay tax only after earning profit. Investors made good profits when the stock market rose to an all-time high in earlier fiscal years. As a result, the revenue received by the government increased last year," he said. The government has been collecting up to 10 percent capital gains tax from the profits earned by investors in the secondary market. As per the existing arrangements, 10 percent CGT is levied on institutional investors in the securities market while it is 7.5 percent for individual investors. Among the individuals, the government collects tax by considering those who hold shares for more than 1 year as long-term investors and those who hold shares for less than 1 year as short-term investors. Short-term investors have to pay a 7.5 percent capital gains tax and long-term investors have to pay a 5 percent capital gains tax. The government had collected an all-time high CGT of Rs 14.06 billion from transactions of shares in FY 2020/21 when the domestic bourse was on a bull run. The amount was only Rs 1.01 billion in FY 2019/20. Secondary market transactions contributed a total of Rs 6.59 billion in tax revenue from FY 2015/16 to FY 2019/20.

With the risk of Nepal finding a place on the 'grey list' of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the government has decided to expedite the endorsement of amendment bills related to anti-money laundering (AML). Nepal is currently under pressure from FAFT and international lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enact a number of laws to address the deficiencies to comply with the standards on AML and anti-terrorist financing. On Tuesday, a meeting of the National Review Council on Money Laundering decided to introduce the amendment bill through a fast-track process. According to the Finance Ministry press statement, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel said that the government planned to take the draft of the bill to the cabinet by Sunday and present the bill at the parliament in a fast-track manner. According to a government secretary, preparations are underway to prepare the draft of the bill to send the draft to the cabinet by Sunday. Though the amendment bill was presented at the erstwhile parliament, it was dissolved before it was endorsed. Later, the government sent an ordinance the President Bidya Devi Bhandari in November last year. But the President didn’t authenticate the ordinance on time, and following the elections of the House of Representatives, the ordinance could not be introduced. The government’s decision has come up at a time when the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering has been conducting a mutual evaluation of Nepal’s compliance with the global standards on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT). Though the APG team concluded the field visit to Nepal in December last year based on which its report will be prepared, Nepali officials believe Nepal could give accommodate the progress made after their visits to Nepal before APG plenary meeting scheduled to be held in April. A government secretary said that the new bill would also include the amendment to the existing laws on casinos and cooperatives. Earlier, the ordinance submitted to the president had missed the provisions related to casinos. In February, the APG is expected to produce its preliminary report on which Nepal will give its opinion. A face-to-face interaction is expected in April before the APG prepares its final report, according to officials at Finance Ministry. The report will then go to the APG plenary, which will determine whether Nepal will be under the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) monitoring of the FATF. The ‘grey list’ is used to denote a group of countries/jurisdictions with “strategic deficiencies” in their regime to counter money laundering and terror financing. Once listed as ‘jurisdiction under increased monitoring’ by the FATF, they must develop an action plan within a specific period. A country on the grey list is not subject to sanctions. However, the grey list signals to the international banking system that there could be enhanced transactional risks from doing business with the said country. Nepal was on the FAFT's 'grey list' from 2008-2014. After a series of progress made on the AML/CFT regime that includes an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008, and the enactment of other laws, the FATF finally removed Nepal from the list in 2014.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 4.97 points to close at 2,116.65 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index plunged by 0.54 points to close at 401. 17 points. A total of 5,024,381 unit shares of 261 companies were traded for Rs 1. 76 billion. Meanwhile, Adarsha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. NIC Sambriddhi Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 3.74 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 05 trillion.