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Xiaomi Nepal has announced the pre-booking of the flagship smartphone, Xiaomi 13 Pro. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is the Pro variant of the Xiaomi 13 series that was launched globally on February 26, 2023. Xiaomi 13 Pro is co-engineered with Leica camera for creating masterpiece in every environment. The phone offers master-level photography with pro-grade Leica lenses. Equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is a premium flagship phone flaunting a minimalistic design and best-in-class display. Equipped with 120W Hyper Charge and a 4,820mAh battery, the smartphone is able to charge to 100 percent in just 19 minutes. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 6.73-inch 10-bit QHD+ AMOLED display with a 3200 x 1440 resolution. The phone has an aluminum frame and a curved ceramic glass back. It comes up with a square camera module to house three cameras, a flash, and Leica branding. The phone is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance. One of the major features of the phone is a triple camera setup jointly developed with German camera company Leica. The primary camera has a large 1-inch 50MP Sony IMX98 sensor with OIS and a 23mm ƒ/1.9 Leica lens. The 50MP telephoto camera has a 75mm equivalent focal length (3x zoom), ƒ/2.0 aperture, and OIS. The phone has a 4820mAh single-cell battery. The phone supports 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge fast charging technology and 50W wireless charging. As a bundle offer, Xiaomi Nepal is offering a Xiaomi 50W wireless charging stand with the pre-booking of Xiaomi 13 Pro. The pre-booking starts from March 23 to April 3, 2023. “We believe our success is a result of the love that we received from our Xiaomi fans. This offer is only a step to thank our Xiaomi and encourage them to keep loving our Xiaomi products," said Amit Kumar Panda, the Country General Manager of Xiaomi Nepal. Customers can buy Xiaomi 13 Pro at 0 percent EMI offer from Nabil Bank. The Xiaomi 13 Pro will be available in 12+256GB variant in two color options- Ceramic White and Ceramic Black. One can pre-book Xiaomi 13 Pro in just Rs5000. The price of Xiaomi 13 Pro is Rs. 1,29,999 and will be available in all Mi stores across the country soon.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 18. 15 points to close at 1,915.14 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 2. 90 points to close at 361. 01 points. A total of 4,340,270 unit shares of 259 companies were traded for Rs 1. 41 billion. Meanwhile, Maya Khola Hydropower Company Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 7. 46 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 77 trillion.

Two months after the government lifted the import restrictions, the country's imports have again started to surge. The latest foreign trade statistics released by the Department of Customs show Nepal 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). The country's import bill in Falgun is the second highest on a month-to-month basis in FY 2022/23. Nepal had imported goods worth Rs 142.31 billion in Bhadra (mid-August-mid-September). However, the country's total imports in the first eight months of the current fiscal year are lower than the last fiscal year. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal imported goods worth Rs 1,058.38 billion in the current fiscal year compared to Rs 1,308.73 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. The imports during the first eight months of this fiscal have declined by 19.13 percent. After lifting eight months-long import restrictions on automobiles, alcohol, and high-end mobiles in mid-December last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) also removed the provision of cash margin in imports in January this year. The country's overall imports were on the lower side from the start of the current fiscal year compared to the last fiscal year. The country's import bill in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August) stood at Rs 131.30 billion. It increased to Rs 142.30 billion in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) before going down to Rs 127.40 billion in Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October). The imports increased to Rs 131.70 billion in Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) and Rs 132.10 billion in Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) before declining to Rs 127.90 billion in Poush (mid-December to mid-January). While the imports have started to surge, the country's exports are yet to grow like in the last fiscal year. Nepal's exports reached an all-time high of Rs 200 billion in FY 2021/22. According to DoC, the country's exports crossed the Rs 100 billion mark in the eighth month of the current fiscal year. The department’s data shows Nepal exported goods worth Rs 104.79 billion till Falgun compared to Rs 147.74 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Signing a bilateral power trade agreement (PTA), attracting investments from Bangladesh in the energy sector, and developing dedicated transmission infrastructure will be Nepal's agenda when energy secretaries from Nepal and Bangladesh meet in May. The fifth meeting of the Nepal Bangladesh Energy Secretary Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) will be held in the second week of May in Dhaka. The fourth meeting was held in Kathmandu on August 8-9, 2022. After seven months, the fifth meeting is taking place on May 10-11, 2023 in Bangladesh. A senior official of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said that the fifth JSC meeting will focus on three agendas. The meeting will be centered around the bilateral power trade agreement (PTA), investments, and dedicated transmission infrastructures. In August 2018, Nepal and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the energy sector. The agreement also facilitated the creation of a Joint Working Group (JWG) and a Joint Steering Committee (JSC). It's been one year since talks for electricity exports from Nepal to Bangladesh gained momentum. Nepal's quest for finding a market for its electricity beyond India was further emboldened after Bangladesh expressed readiness to import 40-50 MW of power from Nepal during the energy secretary-level JSC meeting of the two countries held in Kathmandu in the last week of August. With India giving its nod for power exports from Nepal to Bangladesh in the recently concluded Nepal-India Energy Secretary Talk, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has initiated the process. NEA has planned to export electricity from the Likhu-4 Hydropower Project to Bangladesh and sent the proposal to India for approval. With no bilateral agreement for power trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, the energy ministry officials said the proposal of PTA will be proposed in the upcoming meeting. "We are planning to export 40-50 MW of electricity to Bangladesh in the upcoming season but both countries are yet to sign a PTA," said the official, "That's why we will propose signing PTA in the next meeting." Once the PTA is signed, there will be a power purchase and sales agreement between NEA and the Bangladesh Power Development Board which will enable Nepal to export power to Bangladesh. With Bangladesh keen on importing electricity from Nepal as well as developing hydropower projects in Nepal on a joint-venture model, Nepali officials will also discuss the potential Bangladeshi investments in the energy sector in Nepal. Bangladesh has already said that it would invest in the 683MW Sunkosi-3 Hydropower Project. Both sides had agreed to form a joint-venture company to develop the hydroelectric project. Energy ministry officials said the construction of a dedicated cross-border transmission line between Nepal and Bangladesh will also feature in the meeting. They said while Nepal will use the Indian transmission infrastructure to export power to Bangladesh for now, a dedicated transmission line will be required for the longer run. After the last JSC meeting in August 2022, Nepal and Bangladesh also agreed to take initiatives to reach a tripartite agreement between Nepal, Bangladesh and India to set up a dedicated transmission line between Nepal and Bangladesh using the Indian territory.