Submit your Article

Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) has said the Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, the country’s tourist hub, on Sunday dealt a powerful blow to Nepal’s aviation and tourism sectors. Issuing a press statement today, TAAN general secretary Binod Sapkota said the crash caused an irreparable loss to the domestic tourism industry that was trying to revive from the implications of COVID-19 pandemic. Flights at Pokhara Regional International Airport were recently launched following its upgradation from the national to international standard and the crash took place at the country’s tourist hub was itself a major blow to the entire domestic tourism business, the TAAN concludes. TAAN President Nilhari Bastola demanded the state take significant measures to ensure that Nepal’s sky and aviation service are safe.  He advised the state’s responsible bodies to take measures for the prevention of such incidents in the days to come. The plane with the call sign 9N-ANC ATR-72-500 that had left Kathmandu for Pokhara on January 15 carrying 72 people, including 68 passengers and four crew members, crashed on the Seti River Gorge. NAC expresses grief Office bearers of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) are saddened by the death of scores of people in the crash, according to the NAC. The NAC in a statement today offered its heartfelt condolences to those killed in the tragedy while wishing that the bereaved families may have patience and strength to endure the incident. It has termed the crash as the saddest one in the history of Nepal's aviation. It has expected the findings of facts relating to the incident while urging effective investigations so as to make the country's aviation sector safe and reliable. HAN mourns The Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) has expressed its sorrow over the crash. "The Association and all other organizations under it are saddened by the incident. In this time of sorrow, we offer our condolences to all passengers and crew members killed in the tragedy, and to the bereaved families," read a statement issued by the HAN. Stating that the accident has had negative impacts not only on the country's aviation sector, but the whole nation and tourism sector as it has spread the message at national and international levels that Nepal's sky is unsafe, it said it was the responsibilities of all of us including the state and stakeholders to make the country's sky safe.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 41. 04 points to close at 2,149.39 points on Monday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 7. 89 points to close at 411. 25 points. A total of 14,482,959 unit shares of 252 companies were traded for Rs 5. 47 billion. Meanwhile, Kumari Dhanabriddhi Yojana was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 02 percent. Similarly, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 18 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 10 trillion.

The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has resumed its flights to Ilam after a year-long gap. An agreement was inked between the NAC and Ilam Municipality to make a flight to Ilam in a week. Following the agreement, an NAC aircraft made a flight to Phalgunanda Sukilumba Airport from Kathmandu this morning. Tara Air had made some flights to Phalgunanda Sukilumba Airport for three months last year but no flights were made since then. Mayor of Ilam Municipality Kedar Thapa said that the NAC aircraft will return to Kathmandu after its Kathmandu-Ilam flight today. With the resumption of flights, we hope better touristic activities in Ilam, Mayor Thapa said. The NAC will run 19-seater Twin Otter and the one-way plane fare from Ilam to Kathmandu has been fixed at Rs 6,300 while the fare is Rs 6,500 from Kathmandu to Ilam. However, the municipality said that senior citizens, students and children have been provided with special subsidies in the fare. Passengers from Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung and neighboring Darjeeling of India would also be benefited after the flights.  

Commercial banks will reduce interest rates on deposits effective from Magh (mid-January). With liquidity in the banking sector easing, bankers have decided to reduce interest rates on deposits by 10 percentage points. A meeting of the Nepal Bankers' Association (NBA), the association of commercial bank CEOs, on Wednesday decided to reduce the deposit interest rate effective from mid-January. According to this decision, the interest rate for individual fixed deposits for the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) will come down to 11 percent from 12.13 percent currently. Similarly, the interest on institutional fixed deposits has also been set at 9 percent from 10.13 percent. The new NBA President Sunil KC said the decision to reduce the interest rate was made according to the guidelines of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). As per NRB's guidelines, banks and financial institutions can reduce the interest rate up to 10 percent. KC, who is the CEO of NMB Bank, was elected for the post of President of the NBA by a special general meeting held on Wednesday after the tenure of Agricultural Development Bank CEO Anil Upadhyaya ended. NBA's decision to slash interest rates came after improvements in deposits in Poush, and the credit-to-deposit (CD) ratio of commercial banks coming down to 86 percent. However, the interest rates on loans will be reduced only from mid-February or mid-March. NBA sources said the bankers decided to reduce interest rates following a request from Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel and Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari. The private sector has been protesting against the higher interest rates, arguing that it has made doing business costly for them. After the formation of the new government, the private sector held a series of meetings with the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and NRB Governor where they demanded two things - reduction in interest rates and postponement of guidelines on working capital loans. According to NBA, the base rate will also be revised with the change in the rate of deposits. As the interest rates on deposits and lending are correlated, it will certainly affect the interest rates on loans. As per the NRB data, the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) as of Monday collected deposits worth Rs 5311 billion, an addition of Rs 16 billion in the past five days. Similarly, the total extension of loans stands at Rs 4,778 billion. With the improvement in liquidity position, the CD ratio of banks has come down to an average of 86.65 percent while the interbank rate has also fallen to 6.14 percent from around 8 percent. The central bank had tightened the money supply citing that excessive loans were used to import goods which led the country to a deepening trade deficit and fast depletion of foreign exchange reserves. As a result, the base interest rate increased from around seven percent to up to 11 percent in the past year. Since mid-September, banks have increased their interest rates on fixed deposits by 10 percent to 12.13 percent, while the interest rate on savings accounts is 7.13 percent per annum on average. It has triggered the lending rate to go up to 18 percent a year.