Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd (Nepse) has started trading from Pokhara also.
"The capital-based secondary market has -- under its policy of diversification -- started trading from a geographically separate district," said Nepse. The centralised system has been diversified through Remote Work Station (RWS).
According to Nepse, Nepal Stock House of Pokhara registered four transactions of three companies' 140-unit of shares worth Rs 1,92,360.
In the first phase, Nepse will start transactions in districts where there is optical fiber connection.
Premium Securities from Pokhara and Nepal Investment and Securities and Pragyan Securities from Biratnagar have got licences to start transactions from their respective districts.
Nepse -- in coordination with securities brokers' association -- has plans to start share trading through remote work stations in Birgunj, Narayangadh, Butwal, and Nepalgunj. The diversification of share trading will help expand the secondary market and allow people across the country opportunity to speculate.
Three brokers from Nepalgunj and four brokers each from Biratnagar, Birgunj, Narayangadh are ready to start share trading from their cities.
Meanwhile, after a week-long trading halt by investors, Nepse started trading today. The investors have been protesting against Nepse, Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) and the Finance Ministry citing lack of concern to develop the capital market.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Nepal tourism Year 2011 officially inaugurated
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Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal today officially launched the national campaign, 'Nepal Tourism Year 2011' during a huge gala at Army Pavilion, Tudikhel.
PM Nepal insisted all to come up together for the most anticipated national campaign NTY 2011 -- that could be the case for the economic revolution. The PM light Peace Torch at 3:00 PM the centrally located peace torch with height of 8 feet at Nepal Army Pavilion. The peace torch lighted at Eternal Peace Flame in Lumbini Sacred Garden by Olympian Bimala Rana Magar on February 21 was carried to Kathmandu on February 24 all the way from Lumbini -- the birthplace of Buddha.
With the slogan "together for tourism", representatives from political parties, tourism, economic sector, private sector, sports, entertainment and ethnic communities participated in the rally and the inaugural ceremony. Along with Prime Minister Nepal, 18 different political parties including Nepali Congress, CPN UML, UCPN Maoist, RPP, and representatives from different private sector FNCCI, NCC, HAN, NATTA, FCAN, NRNA, BAN showed their commitment by taking oath for making the campaign a huge success and avoid any kind of bandh and strike year around maintain peace and security.
To show the commitment towards the national campaign official launch about 40,000 people from different walks of life organised rally from five different places that is City Hall, Lainchour Scout, Academy Hall, Stadium and Basantpur Durbar square with one common destination Nepal Army Pavilion, Tundikhel.
Along with the participation of 40,000 people carrying national flags and banners, the official launch programme was celebrated with commitments from 18 different political party leaders and representatives and huge public participation throughout the event. With number of activities the official launch of NTY 2011 at Nepal Army Pavilion, Tudikhel gave the impression of being larger than life.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Corporate travel to go up
Corporate travel is likely to grow by 10-15 per cent in Asia this year as business activities improve from last year's sharp falls, a major air ticketing and reservations firm said.
Singapore-based Abacus International said the recovery will be gradual because most the austerity measures and travel policies implemented during the global economic downturn are likely to remain.
"As businesses resume to the 'new normal', we should also see an upward adjustment in travel budgets as business activities improve in a more thriving economic climate," said Abacus vice-president for marketing Brett Henry.
"We are expecting to see a gradual 10-15 per cent growth in corporate travel in 2010, especially in traditional corporate travel markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong," he said in a statement.
Business travel declined by 15-20 per cent last year and the amount spent during these trips dropped between 25 and 40 per cent, Henry said.
Despite the downturn, overall bookings for Abacus shrank a narrower-than-expected one per cent in 2009 from the year before, thanks to a pickup starting from the second half. Emerging markets in Central Asia as well as Nepal, Bangladesh and South Korea are seen as key growth areas.
"There is certainly a strong sense of renewed energy and vibrancy in the market as the new year starts," Abacus president and chief executive Robert Bailey told reporters.
Abacus meanwhile said that the majority of Asian travel companies have yet to catch up with the use of Facebook and other online social media tools in their marketing strategies.
Asian travel agents should also make full use of mobile technology applications to reach customers, Abacus said.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Investors threaten to take to street
Share investors have threatened to take to street due to government apathy.
"We are ready to stage protests in the streets if our demands are not fulfilled," said General Investors' Association (GIA) president Deepak Karki addressing a press meet here today.
The investors' organisations -- General Investors' Association (GIA), Nepal Investors' Forum (NIF) and Nepal Securities Investors' Association (NSIA) -- are staging protests since February 18, after the government seemed reluctant to fulfil their 22-point demands. Partially addressing their demands, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Monday relaxed margin lending by five percent. However, that did not appease the investors.
Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), the secondary market of shares and debentures, is dysfunctional since the last three days due to their protest. There has been no trading on the Nepse floor as stockbrokers are supporting the agitation. "We want the demands of investors fulfilled and operation resumed at Nepse," said Nepal Stock Brokers' Association president Nanda Kishore Mundada.
Former Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has urged the government to take strong measures to revive the capital market. "The government should make the capital market stable," he said. He also urged the government to encourage banks and financial institutions to work as market makers to make the capital market progressive. If the government does not act today the capital market will crash, he added.
Nepse is in a bearish mode since last September and the benchmark index stood at 485.14 points last Thursday. Trading has halted due to investors' protest since then. The index had touched the highest point of 1,175.38 points on August 31, 2008.
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey's advisor Keshav Acharya assured investors that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will take necessary action to revitalize the capital market. "The ministry will talk to investors to sort out the problems soon," he said. He, however, warned investors not to expect much in the current problematic scenario. "The whole economy -- monetory, exchange, capital market and real sector -- is in trouble at present," he said adding that none should expect rapid progress.
Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) former chairman Dr Chiranjivi Nepal asked the government to exempt investors from capital gain tax (CGT) for a short time. "It could be from three to six months," he said. "If this is done, the market may flourish."
Japan and South Korea had applied the formula during the East Asian recession in 1997. Dr Nepal also called for belaying the decision to float 19 per cent of promoters' shares till Nepse gains momentum.
Prof Dr Bishombher Pyakurel elaborated the situation as bad governance. "All the problems are associated with bad governance," he said, "The government is not people friendly."
Meanwhile, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has showed serious concern over the investors' agitation and urged the government to take the mater seriously.
ADBL to float largest primary issue in Nepal's banking history
Agriculture Development Bank Ltd (ADBL) is floating the largest ever Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the banking history of Nepal.
Having got licence for A-class bank from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) after the 38th year of its establishment, the bank has decided to go public with Rs 960 million worth ordinary shares from April 4. Ace Development Bank has been appointed the sales and issue manager. ADBL has registered Rs 1.72 billion profit before tax in the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has given permission to Prime Life Insurance Company Ltd to float initial public offering (IPO) of 10,80,000 unit shares worth Rs 100 each. The insurance company has appointed NIDC Capital Market the issue manager for the IPO worth Rs 108 million. PrimeLife Insurance has total capital of Rs 252 million and earned a net profit of Rs 56.75 million. It has issued 181,000 policies and collected premium worth Rs 488 million till last month.
Sebon has also authorised Surya Life Insurance, Manakamana Development Bank, Gaurishankar Development Bank and Yeti Finance to issue ordinary shares worth around Rs 2 billion.
Surya Life Insurance will issue shares worth Rs 108 million, Manakamana Development Bank is floating Rs 300 million worth shares, Gaurishankar Development Bank is issung Rs 60 million worth ordinary shares and Yeti Finance will issue shares worth Rs 62.5 million. Nilgiri Vikas Bank Ltd is also issuing ordinary shares worth Rs 150 million and its issue manager is Elite Capital. City Development Bank is planning to issue IPO worth Rs 60 million at face value and its issue manager is also Ace Development Bank.
Surya Life's issue manager is NMB Bank, Gaurishankar Development Bank's issue manager is Ace whereas Mankamana Bikas Bank's issue manager is NIDC Capital market.
Nepse to go outside the Valley
KATHMANDU: Investors from outside the Kathmandu Valley -- Pokhara, Butwal, Birgunj, Narayangud and Nepalgunj -- can buy and sell shares from March. Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) is planning to go outside the valley in a bid to make the share transaction possible across the country. According to the sole secondary market of the country, brokers can do transaction from Pokhara, Butwal, Birgunj, Narayangud and Nepalgunj very soon. The Kathmandu-based secondary market has said to be discouraging investors from outside the capital.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Global trade drops by 12 per cent
Global trade last year suffered its biggest collapse since World War II, an unprecedented 12 per cent drop according to new figures, with worrying signs suggesting 2010 threatens only mediocre recovery.
"World trade has also been a casualty of the crisis, contracting in volume by around 12 per cent in 2009," Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation, told an audience in Brussels on Wednesday.
"It is the sharpest decline since the end of the Second World War," Lamy said, and a steep downwards revision from the WTO's most recent estimate, in December, of 10 per cent. While he would give "no forecast" for 2010 trade growth, he insisted a "pickup" is underway, but led by an "overheating" China, could not say whether it is short-term or sustainable.
The massive contraction makes it "economically imperative to conclude" stalled international free trade talks in 2010, Lamy told business figures and policymakers at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think-tank.
The Doha Round of trade negotiations that began in 2001 with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations has been dogged by intractable disagreements. These include how much the United States and the European Union should reduce farm aid and the extent to which developing countries such as India and China should lower tariffs.
Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed, with the latest being the end of this year.
Lamy blamed last year's trade "freefall" on a reduction in demand "across all major world economies" as well as the drying-up of trade financing and rising tariffs or national subsidies. Some protectionist response "was to be expected," he said, although he maintained that worries of "runaway protectionism" had proved an exaggeration.
Amid vast government deficits, he said the biggest enemy to a sustained pick-up was "intolerably high" unemployment that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates has hit 200 million people worldwide -- 20 million of whom have lost their jobs since the crisis began on Wall Street.
"The political consequences in my view are still to come," Lamy warned of the so-called jobless recovery, underlining that "keeping international markets open is vital" if negative global economic growth of minus 2.2 percent in 2009 is to be reversed. He revealed the latest WTO figures in order to underscore his argument that completing the Doha treaty talks was essential to re-booting the global economy after recession. Lamy said getting agreement on Doha is a "challenge" but said the world was "80 percent" there. He also said he "wouldn't venture any prediction" on when Russia would come on board.
Along with Brazil, China and India, Russia makes up a quartet of developing economies said to hold the key to conclusion of a deal that would cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods. On Wednesday, Australia resumed bilateral free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap.
Speaking the previous evening at the European parliament, Lamy said Europe could speed up Doha progress if it made its position clearer on fisheries subsidies. "This is a candidate for a bit of poking on your side," he said.
However, he also admitted that agricultural subsidies would remain at levels up to four times higher than in industry, as a "contribution to the problem of food security."
The EU and the US are each under greater pressure now than when negotiations were first launched. Recent data has also shown US consumer confidence lower than expected and zero percent growth in the fourth quarter for EU giant Germany.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King also on Wednesday expressed worries over the health of its key trading partner, the 16-nation eurozone economy, which is suffering on markets amid heavy Greek debts. -- AFP
"World trade has also been a casualty of the crisis, contracting in volume by around 12 per cent in 2009," Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation, told an audience in Brussels on Wednesday.
"It is the sharpest decline since the end of the Second World War," Lamy said, and a steep downwards revision from the WTO's most recent estimate, in December, of 10 per cent. While he would give "no forecast" for 2010 trade growth, he insisted a "pickup" is underway, but led by an "overheating" China, could not say whether it is short-term or sustainable.
The massive contraction makes it "economically imperative to conclude" stalled international free trade talks in 2010, Lamy told business figures and policymakers at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think-tank.
The Doha Round of trade negotiations that began in 2001 with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations has been dogged by intractable disagreements. These include how much the United States and the European Union should reduce farm aid and the extent to which developing countries such as India and China should lower tariffs.
Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed, with the latest being the end of this year.
Lamy blamed last year's trade "freefall" on a reduction in demand "across all major world economies" as well as the drying-up of trade financing and rising tariffs or national subsidies. Some protectionist response "was to be expected," he said, although he maintained that worries of "runaway protectionism" had proved an exaggeration.
Amid vast government deficits, he said the biggest enemy to a sustained pick-up was "intolerably high" unemployment that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates has hit 200 million people worldwide -- 20 million of whom have lost their jobs since the crisis began on Wall Street.
"The political consequences in my view are still to come," Lamy warned of the so-called jobless recovery, underlining that "keeping international markets open is vital" if negative global economic growth of minus 2.2 percent in 2009 is to be reversed. He revealed the latest WTO figures in order to underscore his argument that completing the Doha treaty talks was essential to re-booting the global economy after recession. Lamy said getting agreement on Doha is a "challenge" but said the world was "80 percent" there. He also said he "wouldn't venture any prediction" on when Russia would come on board.
Along with Brazil, China and India, Russia makes up a quartet of developing economies said to hold the key to conclusion of a deal that would cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods. On Wednesday, Australia resumed bilateral free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap.
Speaking the previous evening at the European parliament, Lamy said Europe could speed up Doha progress if it made its position clearer on fisheries subsidies. "This is a candidate for a bit of poking on your side," he said.
However, he also admitted that agricultural subsidies would remain at levels up to four times higher than in industry, as a "contribution to the problem of food security."
The EU and the US are each under greater pressure now than when negotiations were first launched. Recent data has also shown US consumer confidence lower than expected and zero percent growth in the fourth quarter for EU giant Germany.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King also on Wednesday expressed worries over the health of its key trading partner, the 16-nation eurozone economy, which is suffering on markets amid heavy Greek debts. -- AFP
Monday, February 22, 2010
WB brings four-pronged strategy to help Nepal develop hydropower
The World Bank has four-pronged strategy to help Nepal develop hydropower.
Concluding her weeklong visit to Nepal today vice-president for South Asia Isabel Guerrero, said that first step is to help urgently relieve the energy shortages through critical investments in the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing plants. "To expand community managed micro-hydro schemes in isolated rural areas is the second priority," she said adding that the third step is to support medium scale hydropower and transmission schemes such as Kabeli-A and transmission interconnection with India for urgent electricity imports during the load-shedding season and subsequent electricity trade.
"Similarly, the fourth step is help Nepal set the stage for larger hydropower projects which can both be transformative for the country's economic growth and for meeting the aspirations of people," Guerrero said adding that ultimately Nepal wil need larger hydropower projects.
During her stay, she met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who also asked the global agency to help Nepal develop hydropower project apart from mid-hill highway. "These programmes will be included in country strategy paper," she informed. She also reiterated that the World Bank Group stands by Nepal as it goes through historic transformations and seals the peace process.
"Once the political agendas are settled, the economic agendas will come in the forefront," said the optimistic Guerrero adding that "currently also at the broader level it seems nothing is moveing ahead but things are really happening at the community level." The vice-president of World Bank for South Asia gave an example of a micro hydro project at Baglung that has helped change the life-style of the community.
Currently, about 25,000 households are served by schemes that the World Bank has financed through the micro hydro projects and an additional 36,000 households will benefit by 2012.
She and members of her team visited several development projects in western Nepal. Guerrero met with community partners and project beneficiaries of the World Bank financed Poverty Alleviation Fund and Social Safety Nets Project in Dolpa district as well as a micro-hydro scheme and a community managed school in Baglung district.
She was impressed by what she saw in the field. "It was remarkable to see how these programmes are getting resources to the poorest and most excluded groups," she said adding that they demonstrate that when the community decides what it wants, even just modest amounts of resources can help many poor families get on a sustainable path out of poverty.
Guerrero thinks Nepal has huge opportunities as it lies in between the two growing economic power houses. "But a long-term vision is needed on economic side and development side," she added.
She also seemed concerned due to absence of central bank governor at such a critical time.
Concluding her weeklong visit to Nepal today vice-president for South Asia Isabel Guerrero, said that first step is to help urgently relieve the energy shortages through critical investments in the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing plants. "To expand community managed micro-hydro schemes in isolated rural areas is the second priority," she said adding that the third step is to support medium scale hydropower and transmission schemes such as Kabeli-A and transmission interconnection with India for urgent electricity imports during the load-shedding season and subsequent electricity trade.
"Similarly, the fourth step is help Nepal set the stage for larger hydropower projects which can both be transformative for the country's economic growth and for meeting the aspirations of people," Guerrero said adding that ultimately Nepal wil need larger hydropower projects.
During her stay, she met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who also asked the global agency to help Nepal develop hydropower project apart from mid-hill highway. "These programmes will be included in country strategy paper," she informed. She also reiterated that the World Bank Group stands by Nepal as it goes through historic transformations and seals the peace process.
"Once the political agendas are settled, the economic agendas will come in the forefront," said the optimistic Guerrero adding that "currently also at the broader level it seems nothing is moveing ahead but things are really happening at the community level." The vice-president of World Bank for South Asia gave an example of a micro hydro project at Baglung that has helped change the life-style of the community.
Currently, about 25,000 households are served by schemes that the World Bank has financed through the micro hydro projects and an additional 36,000 households will benefit by 2012.
She and members of her team visited several development projects in western Nepal. Guerrero met with community partners and project beneficiaries of the World Bank financed Poverty Alleviation Fund and Social Safety Nets Project in Dolpa district as well as a micro-hydro scheme and a community managed school in Baglung district.
She was impressed by what she saw in the field. "It was remarkable to see how these programmes are getting resources to the poorest and most excluded groups," she said adding that they demonstrate that when the community decides what it wants, even just modest amounts of resources can help many poor families get on a sustainable path out of poverty.
Guerrero thinks Nepal has huge opportunities as it lies in between the two growing economic power houses. "But a long-term vision is needed on economic side and development side," she added.
She also seemed concerned due to absence of central bank governor at such a critical time.
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