Friday, January 31, 2014

Minister asks auditors to maintain professional integrity



Finance minister Shankar Prasad Koirala has asked the auditors to maintain professional integrity.
Addressing the 17th anniversary of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN), here today, he said that the auditors have a huge responsibility of maintaining financial discipline. "Trust deficit on auditors will raise question on good governance of the country."
The government is ready to utilise the expertise of the auditors, he said, adding that the regulatory authority has to be free, strong and empowered for the country to maintain financial discipline. "As the country is moving towards economic development after the political transition, professional manpower like auditors have more role to play."
 The economy follows guideline of the auditors, deputy governor of the central bank Maha Prasad Adhikari, on the occasion, said, asking the auditor to maintain professional integrity.
Currently, there are 8,00 chartered accountants in the country.

EC experts arriving today to assess onsite six air carriers safety measures



A six-member European Commission (EC) delegation is arriving Nepal today to study the documentation system of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and look into domestic air carriers' safety measures.
The team will conduct safety assessments of six domestic air carriers – Nepal Airlines Corporation, Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, Tara Air, Sita Air and Shree Airlines – for five days on February 3-8.
After onsite safety assessment, the team will prepare a report and submit it to the meeting of EC's Air Safety Committee – in Brussels in April – that will decide whether or not to lift the ban on Nepali airlines from flying to European skies that the EC imposed on December 5, 2013.
The team will also reevaluate CAAN's documentation and progresses made so far on airworthiness and examine the improvements of personnel licensing mechanism of CAAN to ensure safety of passengers and aircraft.
Earlier, International Civil Aviation Organisation's Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) had pointed out several safety issues and raised questions regarding implementation of new guideline for providing Air Operators' Certificate (AOC) to new airlines and extending AOC for existing airlines.

Gold price drops to Rs 54,000 per tola



The precious yellow metal price has dropped by Rs 800 per tola (11.664 gram) in a week to Rs 54,000 this week.
The market saw the trading of gold at Rs 54,000 per tola today, from Sunday's Rs 54,800 per tola, though the precious yellow metal price went up To Rs 54,900 on Monday.
Likewise, the silver also witnessed a drop of Rs 25 per tola to Rs 840 per tola today from Sunday's Rs 865.
The volatile US dollar and volatile prices in the international market has direct impact to the domestic market that has been witnessing a huge chunk of gold smuggling from China to India in recent months.

India, Nepal formalises amendment of bilateral transit treaty



It will now be easier for Nepal to export third country import to another country through India as Nepal and India have formalised an amendment to a bilateral treaty to facilitate traffic in transit for goods of third country origin exported from Nepal.
The new amendment has removed restriction of movement of goods of non-Nepalis origin to transit through India for export to third countries. The amendment would also facilitate re-export of third country origin capital goods from Nepal to third countries for repair and return and also re-export of rejected goods from Nepal.
The change would facilitate Nepali business as it would allow re-export of goods imported from third countries into Nepal after some value addition in Nepal for which a legal provision was made in the Finance Act-2009.
The move would also facilitate movement of diplomatic cargo exported from Nepal and transiting through India.
In a statement today, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said the two neighbours have formalised an amendment to the 'Export Procedure' prescribed under the Memorandum to the Protocol to the Treaty of Transit between the two sides.
A Letter of Exchange formalising the decision has been finalised by both sides. The amendment in the provisions of the Treaty of Transit brings into effect a significant decision which was reached between the two sides during the Nepal-India Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting on Trade, Transit and Cooperation to Control Unauthorised Trade held in Kathmandu during December 21-22 last year, the statement said.
The amendment was necessitated since, according to the earlier procedure, only goods of Nepali origin were allowed to be exported through India to third countries.
The provision would facilitate Nepal's genuine third country export which may be required for re-export of goods imported into Nepal for display in fairs and exhibitions.
There are two other important trade facilitation measures which were discussed by the two sides in the last IGC meeting to allow movement of imported vehicles on their own power from Kolkata port into Nepal and facilitating the import of bulk cargo into Nepal by operationalisation of multimodal transport link from Kolkata port through Jogbani-Biratnagar and Sunauli-Bhairahawa land routes.
Proposals for making the amendments in the Treaty of Transit had been finalised by the Indian government and shared through the Indian embassy in Kathmandu with the Nepal government.
The proposals are presently under consideration of the Nepal government. Once finalised, the measures would further facilitate Nepal's transit trade through India.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Government fails to meet revenue mobilisation, expenditure target



The government has neither been able to spend the capital expenditure that could have propelled the economic growth nor meet the revenue mobilisation target in the six months of the current fiscal year 2013-14.
The government fell short of Rs 4.74 billion – due to two largest contributors to the government coffer customs and value added tax (VAT) lower mobilisation – according to its own target in the first half of the current fiscal year, according to the Finance Ministry.
Though, the revenue mobilisation is 21.46 per cent higher compared to the same period last fiscal year's six months, the government has been able to mobilise only Rs 163.44 billion by mid-January against its target of Rs 168.18 billion.
The government was able to mobilise Rs 47.98 billion from VAT against the target of Rs 51.13 billion, falling short of Rs 3.15 billion, in the six months of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the government has been able to mobilise Rs 32.49 billion from customs duty against the target of Rs 32.56 billion.
However, income tax mobilisation – that has witnessed an encouraging trend in recent years – has contributed Rs 34.26 billion, which has surpassed the target of Rs 33.58 billion – apart from excise duty – that has been mobilised at Rs 21.41 billion – some Rs 230 million more than the ministry's target.
Similarly, the the government has been able to mobilise Rs 20.70 billion from non-tax revenue against the target of Rs 19.15 billion, the ministry said, adding that vehicle and land registration fee and the Office of the Company Registrar contributed Rs 6.08 billion against the target of Rs 9.48 billion. "The education tax stood at Rs 520 million."