KATHMANDU, July 29: Industrial investment more than doubled in Nepal in the last fiscal year 2017-18 that concluded in mid-July, the Department of Industry (DoI) said on Saturday.

KATHMANDU, July 18: Stocks came under pressure for most of the session on the first trading day of Fiscal Year 2018/19 on Tuesday, as the benchmark Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index was not able to sustain gains from previous trading days. Eventually, the index closed at 1204.31 points -- 8.05 points lower compared to Monday.

KATHMANDU, July 17: The benchmark Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) witnessed a slightly volatile trading day as the index fluctuated between positive and negative territories for most of the session. However, the market posted significant gain in the final hour with the index closing 12.27 points higher. As a result, the index ended the last trading session of the fiscal year at 1,212.36 points.

KATHMANDU, July 11: Nepal Rastra Bank has reduced the spread in interest rate to 4.5 percent from 5 percent. Unveiling the monetary policy on Wednesday, according to the central bank, now the interest gap between the savings and the loan provided by banks will be 4.5 percent from the new fiscal year.

REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, July 4 Commercial banks have slowed down their loan investment as they prepare to close their accounts at the end of the current fiscal year. Deposit flow in the banking system, however, has increased amid rise in government spending. Data compiled by Nepal Bankers Association (NBA) shows that 28 commercial banks extended Rs 17 billion in the past three weeks (between June 8 and June 29), while their deposit rose Rs 41 billion in the same period. With this, total outstanding deposit and loans of these commercial banks has reached Rs 2,377 billion and Rs 2,080 billion as of as of June 29. The recovery in deposit mobilization by commercial banks, who have been suffering from the shortage of lendable fund since long, comes in the wake of the rise in government expenditure at fiscal year-end. Increased government spending pumps more cash into the banking system. According to the data of Financial Comptroller General Office, the government has so far spent 54.26 percent of the capital budget allocated for the current fiscal year. The government has spent Rs 181.88 billion out of Rs 335.18 billion allocated for development spending for FY2017/18. A lion's share of such fund was spent in the past two months. Despite deposits growth, bank lending has slowed in recent days. Bankers say that the slowdown in lending at the fiscal year-end is a natural phenomenon in the banking industry. “Since most of the banks focus on recovery of their loans in the last month of the fiscal year, lending slows down during this time,” Bhuvan Dahal, CEO of Sanima Bank Ltd, said. According to bankers, many investors also do not seek loans during this time when business firms close their book and accounts. Banking industry has been seeing shortage of lendable fund in recent months due to mismatch in their deposits and loan growth. As banks expanded their lending investment sharply despite slow growth in deposit, the credit to core capital cum deposit (CCD) ratio of many banks have reached a saturation level. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) requires banks to maintain CCD ratio of 80 percent. Many banks even saw their CCD ratio touching the upper limit, leading to a sharp rise in deposit rates. However, even the increment in deposit rates to over 13 percent failed to bring adequate deposits into the banking system. The skyrocketing interest rates prompted bankers to cap their saving rate at 7 percent and fixed deposit at 12 percent.

DHANGADHI, June 30: The second assembly meeting of the Province-7 held today has endorsed a bill prepared to implement the economic motion of the provincial government on annual budget of the fiscal year 2075-76 BS.

RUPANDEHI, June 29: The current fiscal year 2017/18 is ending in 15 days. As the clock ticks, government officials in Rupendehi district are brainstorming ways to spend the unspent Rs 2.17 billion budget before the deadline.

KATHMANDU, June 21: National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission (NNRFC) has set criteria for all three tiers of the governments for internal borrowing. This is the first time the constitutional body has advised governments on borrowing after the implementation of full-fledged federal structure started from this fiscal year.

BUTWAL, June 15: The government of Province 5 is all set to introduce an annual budget of around Rs 30 billion, according to officials. Roads, irrigation, drinking water along with other development work would receive priority, informed Prakash Shrestha, vice-chairman of the Provincial Planning Commission.

Fiscal challenges

June 6, 2018 12:15 pm

Horizontal devolution and distribution of resources among the states is going to be major concern for Nepal’s fiscal commission. Horizontal devolution and distribution of resources among the states is going to be major concern for Nepal’s fiscal commission

KATMANDU, May 30: The government has allocated Rs 1.255 billion for the development of Tehrathum district in the fiscal year 2018/19, which comes around 0.095 percent of the total fiscal budget.

KATHMANDU, May 29: Here are the 12 key areas that the government has allocated budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2018/19.

KATHMANDU, May 29: The government has presented a 1.315 trillion rupees full-fledged budget for the fiscal budget 2018/19.

KATHMANDU, May 10: CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed concern over what he has described as the UML’s high-handedness in the formulation of fiscal plans and polices.

POKHARA, May 10: The government's plan of taking commercial banks to all local units is unlikely to materialize in the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, April 28: The Saving habits of Nepalis is expected to improve significantly in the current fiscal year, indicating that people are investing more than they used to about two and half decades ago.

KATHMANDU, April 26: Each Nepali will earn an average of US $ 1,004 (Rs 106,333 as per Wednesday's exchange rate) in the current fiscal year, which ends in mid-July.

KATHMANDU, April 16: The Supreme Court (SC) has settled almost 30 percent of the filed cases in the last eight months of the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, Mar 12: Increasing registration of new tempos has left the officials of Department of Transport Management (DoTM) baffled.

KATHMANDU, Feb 19: The government will start implementing Cold Store Construction Project from the current fiscal year, officials of Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) said.

KATHMANDU, Feb 18: Most of the donor-funded programs and projects have not been transferred to local levels and provinces as promised in the annual budget, due to lack of mechanism for disbursement and performance reporting.

KATHMANDU, Feb 3: Nepal’s exports increased by 13 percent in the first half of Fiscal Year 2017/18, datae from the Department of Customs (DoC) shows.

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: The office of National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission (NRFC), the constitutional body with an authority to advise the government on revenue distribution to the local levels and provinces, has been set up at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu.

KATHMANDU, Dec 28: Work has started on the budget for next fiscal year but the Ministry of Finance does not yet have a formula for distribution of budget funds to the provinces and local units.

KATHMANDU, Dec 24: The government has spent Rs 340 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year, which is around 27 percent of the total budget.

KATHMANDU, Dec 21: National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has targeted to complete construction of 450,000 houses by the end of the Fiscal Year 2017/18.

KATHMANDU, Dec 17: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) received fewer grievances and complaints from borrowers or bank and financial institutions (BFIs) on disputes of transactions between the two parties last fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, Nov 23: The government is preparing a draft of unified tax code and aims to finalize it by the end of Fiscal Year 2017/18 after holding needful consultation with stakeholders including the private sector.

PANCHTHAR, Oct 11: As many as 16 youths from the district who had gone abroad for foreign employment died in the last fiscal year. A woman is one among those killed. According to District Administration Office, Panchthar, 12 died in Saudi Arabia alone.

KATHMANDU, Sept 24: While the World Bank has recently revised its economic growth forecast for Nepal down to 4.6 percent for the current Fiscal Year 2017/18, partly due to the impact by recent floods, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has, however, played down such worries.

Nepal's recent fiscal developments.

KATHMANDU, July 25: The government has provided construction license to 37 hydropower projects in the fiscal year 2016/17.

KATHMANDU, July 21: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index bounced back this week, gaining 52.18 points to close at 1,635.75 points on Thursday -- the last trading day of the week.

CHITWAN, July 21: The number of casualties due to attack by wild animals in Chitwan National Park and buffer zones is increasing.

KATHMANDU, July 17: Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has said that Rs 612 billion revenue has been collected in the fiscal year 2016/17.

RUKUM, July 16: Musikot municipality has published its first estimated budget at the first municipal council organized in the district headquarters Musikot.

KATHMANDU, July 15: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has approved a budget of Rs 10.78 billion for the fiscal year 2017/18.

KATHMANDU, July 12: The board committee of the Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has approved Rs one hundred 45 billion budget for upcoming fiscal year 2017/18.

KATHMANDU, June 17: The government’s capacity to spend the development budget remained weak in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, like in the past several years. There is less than a month left before the current fiscal year ends, but some 62 percent of the Rs 311 allocated for development programs and projects remains unspent.

KATHMANDU, June 17: The government's capacity to spend the development budget remained weak in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, like in the past several years.

KATHMANDU, May 30: Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara unveiled the annual budget for the fiscal year 2017/18 amounting to Rs 1278.99 billion on Monday. Experts in economic field have reacted to the budget from various viewpoints. Their comments are as follows:

KATHMANDU, May 29: Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara has presented the budget for the fiscal year 2017/18.

KATHMANDU, May 26: The government's policies and programs for the next fiscal year will more or less be same as the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, May 11: Nepal is set to record highest economic growth in 23 years in the current fiscal year, according to the World Bank’s new estimates.

KATHMANDU, April 22: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the fiscal policy of Nepal should be oriented toward facilitating spending on post-earthquake reconstruction and infrastructure as quickly as possible.

KATHMANDU, Jan 24: Revenue collection until January 17 of the current fiscal year has increased by 42 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, Jan 4: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has allocated budget to various municipalities across the country to install the solar street lights in the respective locality in the current fiscal year. The installation will take place on the people's participation approach model.

KATHMANDU, Aug 19: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) hopes to add 185 MW of electricity to the national grid in the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, July 16: The government has spent Rs 34.46 billion in capital expenditure in the past eight days which is around 50 percent of the development budget spent in the rest of the fiscal year.

JUMLA, June 20: Just a week left and there’s lot to do. Locals in Jumla are in hurry day and night to finish ‘development task’ by June 28 after the administration informed that budget for any work completed after the date would not be availed.