Submit your Article

Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, has expanded its e-com­merce empire into South Asia after acquiring Daraz in an undisclosed deal. Daraz Group, a leading e-commerce company in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myan­mar and Bangladesh, was fully acquired by Alibaba to become a member of Alibaba Group.

Daraz was founded in 2012 by Rocket Internet, and it is the sec­ond time Alibaba has bought a Rocket company, the first being Lazada in Southeast Asia two years ago. The deal is part of Ali­baba’s second wave of interna­tional expansions into South Asia.

With the acquisition, Daraz will be able to leverage Alibaba’s lead­ership and experience in tech­nology, online commerce and operation to drive further growth in the five South Asian markets that have a combined population of over 460 million, 60 percent of which is under the age of 35. Daraz will continue to operate under the same brand name.

Advanced Automobiles, the authorized distributor of Renault vehicles in Nepal, has opened pre-book­ings of the Renault CAPTUR, a premium SUV with class leading features. According to the company, the upcoming CAPTUR embodies their new global design language with exclusive fashion-inspired dual tone body colors. Renault Captur is loaded with pre­mium features—innovative lighting systems (ILS), ergo design, leather seats and one integration concept.

Renault’s design approach seamlessly connects car and driver through a plethora of innovations. The premium SUV also comes fully loaded with projec­tor headlamps, C-shaped sapphire LED DRLs, fully automatic temperature control with rear cooling vents, integrated audio system with USB and aux-in with Bluetooth, steering wheel controls and push button start with remote central locking as well as dual airbags.

In a recently released report, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) estimated that the country’s per capita income would cross $1,000 mark for the very first time. CBS—the central agency for the collection, consolidation, processing, analy­sis, publication and dissemination of statistics—also started the first-ever national economic census this month. Nepal’s per capita income, says the CBS, will reach $1,012 in the current fiscal 2017-18 that ends mid-July. Considering the bleak economic picture of the country that was pained in finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada’s white-paper last month, this is a welcome news. It could help the country achieve its goal of upgrading its status from a ‘least developed country’ to a ‘developing country’ by 2022. According to the CBS, the rise in economic activities including in construction and min­ing, as well as a robust service sector, helped expand the economy, which ultimately reflected in the higher per capita income.

In order to get the developing country status, a least developed country should meet at least two of the three criteria set by the United Nations related to per capita income, human asset index and economic vulnerability index. A country needs to have a per capita income of $1,242 or more to be called a developing country, provided the other two criteria are also met.

But considering all the factors that are pulling down the economy, is the estimated income growth of $135 (or 15.39 percent) from last fiscal’s $877 sustainable?

The projected economic growth for the current fiscal is 5.89 per­cent, which is healthy enough. Yet, at the same time, the out­flow of funds from the coun­try exceeded inflows by Rs 24.7 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal (mid-July to mid- March), increasing the trade deficit by over 23 percent. Meanwhile, the balance of payments (BoP) deficit of Rs 24.7 billion recorded in that period has exerted pressure on foreign exchange reserves. In the month of March, the reserves fell by 3.4 percent, to $10.1 billion, accord­ing to the Nepal Rastra Bank.

Nor is the trade situation any better. Nepal’s foreign income has not been able to meet expenses as imports have far exceeded exports, resulting in whopping Rs 713.9 bil­lion trade deficit (27 percent of the GDP) in the first eight months of the current fiscal.

Economist Chandan Sapkota calls the increase in per capita income positive, which, he says, owes to the rapid growth in nominal GDP. But when asked if the real GDP growth in the past few years is sustainable, Sapkota says, “The growth rates of recent times are the result of increased government spending on reconstruction and growth in both demand and supply of construction materials. But unless there are fun­damental changes in the economy, this might not be sustainable.”

Another temporary stimulus that boosted the economy was the elections, Sapkota says. The gov­ernment spent a huge amount in election administration and security personnel, which led to the injection of new cash into the economy and temporarily increased employment. Per capita income increased too.

“But we have to keep up the momentum.” Sapkota says. “There’s not always going to be post-earth­quake reconstruction and elections.”

In his view, the only way the high economic and income growth wit­nessed this year will be sustained is if a more favorable environment is cre­ated for private and foreign investors and if the budget is disbursed more systematically.

A memorandum of under­standing was signed between the Chef’s Association of Nepal and the Turkish Gastronomy Tour­ism Association (GTD) this week. Turkish Airlines is the Official Partner Airlines for the collabo­ration. The collaboration is aimed at exchanging the food culture of Nepal and the Republic Of Turkey with one another.

With this collaboration, the two parties will help contribute to local to global, and global to local collaboration, in Culinary Tour­ism. Both will take part in activi­ties to empower and increase the recognition of their cultural heri­tage and modern kitchen culture of respective countries.