Government forms external resources mobilisation committee

The government has formed an external source mobilisation committee to effectively mobilise the external resources received from multilateral development partners to combat the spread of the coronavirus and the unfavourable situation arising out of it.
“As the coronavirus will have more lasting impact on countries like Nepal which has limited resources, external support and resources are crucial to such countries,” finance minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada said, proposing to form the committee led by finance secretary in a meeting with multilateral development partners that was held today through a video conference.
“The committee will also comprise members of government agencies, private sector and development partners,” the finance minister said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest human and economic crisis of the 21st century.
The finance minister also sought further support from development partners to fight the situation caused by the coronavirus citing that traditional support policies and programmes of development partners will not be enough to combat the coronavirus and its impact.
Stressing on the need for collaborative efforts to fight against it, he also promised that Nepal will leave no stone unturned to fight against the pandemic and revive businesses and economy.
Though, the country has foreign exchange reserve that can sustain the imports of 8 months’ of merchandise and service imports, the finance minister, on the occasion, also asked the multilateral development partners to differ the loan and interest payment schedule as a precaution that the impact of pandemic could be longer.
Highlighting the crucial role of development partners in the process, the finance minister has sought an extra time just to ensure that forex reserve may not deplete due to dwindling exports receipt and decreasing remittance that is going to drop further in the months to come as most of the labour destination countries have been hit by the pandemic. Nepal has also closed the international traffic to contain the coronavirus, which has left some 30,000 foreign employment aspirants in dilemma.
The participating representatives of multilateral development partners accepted Nepal’s proposal to form a committee that will be formed under the finance secretary Shishir Dhungana.
Representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Finance Corporation, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United Nations took part in the video conference.
The representatives of malitaral development partner agencies – in the meeting – stressed on the need to ensure availability of health resources to cope with the pandemic and effective policies and programmes to revive the economy.

Increase spending on managing Covid-19 pandemic: UN regional arm

The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is having far-reaching economic and social consequences for the Asia-Pacific region, with strong cross-border spillover effects through trade, tourism and financial linkages, according to a new report by the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) released today.
The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2020 highlights the Covid-19 pandemic as the immediate risk to the region’s economic outlook, deepening the economic slowdown that was already underway. Although there are significant uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, the negative impacts are likely to be substantial.
As governments respond to the unprecedented health crisis and introduce economic stimulus packages, the report estimates that Asia-Pacific developing countries should increase health emergency spending by $880 million per year. The survey also calls on Asia-Pacific countries to consider establishing a regional fund to respond to future health emergencies.
The ESCAP report suggests that, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, policymakers should maintain accommodative macroeconomic policies to sustain the economic health of the region. Fiscal and monetary policies should be focused on supporting affected enterprises and households and preventing economic contagion. Fiscal spending can also play a significant role in enhancing the ability of health responders to monitor the spread of the pandemic, care for infected people and improve health emergency preparedness.
At the same time, countries should take the opportunity posed by these challenging times to rethink their economic development strategies towards a more inclusive, sustainable and planet-friendly economy. Countries in the region are not only going through a public health crisis but also a climate emergency, which is permanent and even more far-reaching and potentially more disastrous than the pandemic.
“Policymakers should not lose sight of people and the planet,” UN under-secretary-general and executive secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana. “When it comes to designing economic stimulus packages, social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability must be built into every decision.”
The ESCAP report further reveals that the decades-long high economic growth in the region has been accompanied by growing inequality of income and opportunity, and detrimental impacts on the planet, which are endangering the well-being of present and future generations. Unsustainable consumption and production patterns have substantially increased greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating the vulnerability of the region to climate change. Additionally, $240 billion worth of annual subsidies continue to feed the region’s heavy dependence on fossil-fuels.
It calls for a transition towards sustainable consumption and production, with cleaner production and less material-intensive lifestyles, supported by enabling policies. This would require all stakeholders, notably governments, businesses and consumers, to urgently align their own goals and actions with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The report urges strengthening of regional cooperation to raise the ambition to tackle climate emergency. Governments should scale up their efforts on climate-related standards, carbon pricing and implement sustainable consumption and production patterns at the regional level.
Produced annually since 1947, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific is one of the longest-running UN reports on the region’s progress. The survey provides analyses to guide policy discussion on the current and emerging socioeconomic issues and policy challenges to support inclusive and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

International flights to remain suspended until April end

The government today extended the suspension of all international flights to Nepal until April 30 as a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19, popularly known as coronavirus.
The High-level Coordination Committee on Prevention and Control of Covid-19 – led by deputy prime minister Ishwar Pokharel – decided to extend the ban due to rising number of coronavirus cases across the world, and also Nepal. “Today’s meeting decided to extend the suspension of all the international flights till April 30,” confirmed secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Narayan Bidari, after the meeting.
Earlier on March 20 the government had decided to suspend all international flights from March 22 to March 31 due to increasing case of coronavirus cases across the world. “The suspension was later extended until April 15,” Bidari, who is also a member secretary of the High-level Coordination Committee, reminded, adding that the government has not taken any decision regarding the domestic flights. “The domestic flights have been suspended until April 15, and the decision will be taken later.”
However rescue flights have been carried out to fly out foreigners stranded in Nepal and also to bring in medical supplies.
The government has yesterday extended the nationwide lockdown until April 15 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has entered into the stage 2.
Nepal so far has reported nine Covid-19 cases, including one local transmission – which has taken the country into the stage 2 of the pandemic – according to the Ministry of Health and Population. 

Government and World Bank sign financing agreement for Coronavirus response

The World Bank has approved a fast-track $29 million COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project to help Nepal prevent, detect, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen its public health preparedness.
The agreement has been signed today by the Finance Ministry and the World Bank, according to a press note issued by the World Bank.
The project will focus on the immediate response and preparedness needs to fight the virus. The project provides emergency support to enhance Nepal’s capacity to detect cases and ensure prompt contact tracing consistent with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and Ministry of Health and Population protocols. “It will also help set up new intensive care units, beds, and isolation facilities across the country, the press note reads, adding that the project will be implemented by Ministry of Health and Population.
“We are thankful to the World Bank for the response in a record short period of time, which will help Nepal respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen our capacities to deal with future public health risks,” finance secretary Sishir Kumar Dhungana said, adding that immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, the government of Nepal has made several arrangements to prevent and address the possible crisis. “Due to these measures, the socio economic activities are going to be affected.”
“Further support is being anticipated from the World Bank to cope with the emerging pandemic situation,” he added, after the signing ceremony.
The project will also equip designated health facilities with personal protective equipment and hygienic materials and increase the diagnostic capacity of laboratories for responding to public health emergencies. It will enhance the National Public Health Laboratory to handle harmful infectious diseases and strengthen public institutions to coordinate and better manage response activities in all three levels of government.
“Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s rapid response will help save lives across Nepal,” World Bank country manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervos said, adding that the World Bank and its development partners are committed to helping Nepal beef up its health infrastructure and access the resources it needs to fight the spread of COVID-19and protect the livelihoods of its people.
The project is financed from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional credit window for developing countries, through the World Bank Group’s COVID-19 Fast-Track Facility. It will be effective immediately after the signing, the press note reads, adding that it has also an option of World Bank-facilitated procurement as and when required as per the request of the implementing agency.
The agreement was signed by finance secretary Sishir Kumar Dhungana on behalf of the government of Nepal and World Bank country manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervoson behalf of the World Bank.
The World Bank Group is rolling out a $14 billion fast-track package to strengthen the COVID-19 response in developing countries and shorten the time to recovery. The immediate response includes financing, policy advice and technical assistance to help countries cope with the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. The IFC is providing $8 billion in financing to help private companies affected by the pandemic and preserve jobs. IBRD and IDA are making an initial $6 billion available for the health-response. As countries need broader support, the World Bank Group will deploy up to $160 billion over 15 months to protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.

Inclusive food systems needed to boost development, resilience

The rapid spread of Covid-19 and efforts to contain it are generating growing concerns that food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty may escalate, particularly among marginalised people in the developing world. “To build more resilient, climate-smart, and healthy food systems that help people withstand these types of shocks policymakers must prioritise making them inclusive,” according to the 2020 Global Food Policy Report, released today by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
“Food systems provide opportunities to improve food and nutrition security, generate income, and drive inclusive economic growth, but even in prosperous times too many people are excluded from fully participating in them and securing these benefits,” said director general of IFPRI Johan Swinnen. “In times of crisis like today, inclusion is an even greater imperative for protecting the most vulnerable.”
The report highlights the central role that inclusive food systems play in meeting global goals to end poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, and offers recommendations for making food systems more inclusive for four marginalised groups – smallholders, women, youth, and conflict-affected people – as well as analysis on transforming national food system.
More than 60 per cent of people in low income countries are employed in agriculture and smallholders comprise more than 70 per cent of farm units in Africa south of the Sahara and 85 per cent of farms in South Asia. “The rapid expansion of food markets across Africa and Asia offers tremendous potential for many of these smallholders to benefit, if they can increase farm production or engage themselves in food distribution, processing and other parts of the supply chain where ample well-paying employment opportunities will emerge,” it reads, adding that many smallholders lack the means and kind of support to gain from growing food demand, currently. “Initiating and sustaining a process of inclusive transformation requires supporting smallholders’ market access by investing in basic infrastructure, creating market incentives, and promoting inclusive agribusiness models.”
“But it is as important to invest in the ‘hidden middle’ of supply chains where millions of small- and medium-scale enterprises already operate in food processing, storage, logistics and distribution,” director of IFPRI’s Markets, Trade and Institutions Division Rob Vos said, “Getting this right will be essential to lift smallholders from poverty and food insecurity.”
Women are already making significant contributions throughout food systems, but these contributions are often not formally recognised, and women often face constraints that prevent them from engaging on equitable terms. Increasing women’s decision-making power and control over resources and assets such as credit, land, and training helps empower them to contribute to food systems in ways that benefit both men and women. “Women’s empowerment can spur a wide range of improvements that often reverberate throughout households and societies – from agricultural productivity, to household food security and dietary quality, to maternal and child nutrition,” said senior research coordinator at IFPRI Hazel Malapit.
Across the developing world national food systems are already transforming rapidly, creating challenges and opportunities to make them more inclusive to all these groups. Case studies of these transformations in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Viet Nam provide useful examples of the drivers and components of change, as well as the promising entry points for actions that can increase inclusion. “Approaches to food system transformation must be country specific, as each country’s food system is unique,” said director of the CGIAR Research Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health John McDermott.
Governments can foster these inclusive food systems by enacting laws, policies, and regulations that provide basic infrastructure, create the right market incentives, promote inclusive agribusiness models and leverage the potential of digital technology. Additionally, investments in human capital in areas such as secure land tenure rights, improved access to information, and stronger social protections can lower the barriers to participation that man marginalised groups face.
“The spread of Covid-19 has highlighted how vulnerable we all can be to global shocks,” Swinnen said, adding that greater inclusivity in food systems is not a panacea for this or any other crisis, but it is a critical part of strengthening our resilience. “Times of crises also offer opportunities for change and it is essential that we act now so that everyone, especially the most vulnerable, can recover from the Covid-19 shock and be prepared to withstand future shocks.”
The report also features chapters analysing developments in agri-food systems in Africa south of the Sahara, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Covid-19 causes devastating losses in working hours and employment: ILO

The Covid-19 crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.
Large reductions are foreseen in the Arab States (8.1 per cent, equivalent to 5 million full-time workers), Europe (7.8 per cent, or 12 million full-time workers) and Asia and the Pacific (7.2 per cent, 125 million full-time workers), according to the Internal Labour Organisation (ILO).
“Huge losses are expected across different income groups but especially in upper-middle income countries – 7 per cent or 100 million full-time workers – it said, adding that this far exceeds the effects of the 2008-9 financial crisis. “The sectors most at risk include accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail, and business and administrative activities.”
The eventual increase in global unemployment during 2020 will depend substantially on future developments and policy measures. There is a high risk that the end-of-year figure will be significantly higher than the initial ILO projection, of 25 million.
More than four out of five people – 81 per cent – in the global workforce of 3.3 billion are currently affected by full or partial workplace closures. “Workers and businesses are facing catastrophe, in both developed and developing economies,” ILO director-general Guy Ryder said, adding that they have to move fast, decisively, and together. “The right, urgent, measures, could make the difference between survival and collapse.”
The ILO Monitor second edition: Covid-19 and the world of work , which describes Covid-19 as ‘the worst global crisis since World War II’, updates an ILO research note published on March 18. However, the updated version includes sectoral and regional information on the effects of the pandemic.
According to the new study, some 1.25 billion workers are employed in the sectors identified as being at high risk of ‘drastic and devastating’ increases in layoffs and reductions in wages and working hours. “Many are in low-paid, low-skilled jobs, where a sudden loss of income is devastating.”
Looked at regionally, the proportion of workers in these ‘at risk’ sectors varies from 43 per cent in the Americas to 26 per cent in Africa. Some regions, particularly Africa, have higher levels of informality, which combined with a lack of social protection, high population density and weak capacity, pose severe health and economic challenges for governments, the report cautions.
Worldwide, two billion people work in the informal sector – mostly in emerging and developing economies – and are particularly at risk.
Large-scale, integrated, policy measures are needed, focusing on four pillars: supporting enterprises, employment and incomes; stimulating the economy and jobs; protecting workers in the workplace; and, using social dialogue between government, workers and employers to find solutions, the study reads.
“This is the greatest test for international cooperation in more than 75 years,” Ryder said, adding, “If one country fails, then we all fail.”
“We must find solutions that help all segments of our global society, particularly those that are most vulnerable or least able to help themselves,” he said, adding that the choices we make today will directly affect the way this crisis unfolds and so the lives of billions of people. “With the right measures we can limit its impact and the scars it leaves. We must aim to build back better so that our new systems are safer, fairer and more sustainable than those that allowed this crisis to happen.”

Railway passengers without ticket to be fined Rs 25,000

If anyone travels without buying a ticket in the railway, the person will have to pay cash penalty of Rs 25,000.
The government has – in the new Railway Bill – brought some of the strict provisions, as the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway is about to start operation. After being endorsed by the House of Representatives, the government today tabled the Railway Bill at the National Assembly for final approval.
The government has been long planning to operate railway services in a number of possible routes in and out of the Kathmandu Valley. “Apart from the railway service between Kurtha of Janakpur and Jaynagar of India, the government is planning to operate the new transport means in Kathmandu-Raxaul, Kathmandu-Kyirong and Nijgadh-Hetauda-Bharatpur routes. Likewise, the East West Electrified Railway is also an ambitious project that the government has planned in order to improve connectivity within the country.
Currently, the sector is managed under the provisions of Railways Act 1963 but the government has revived Nepal Railway Company by revising the organisational structure of the old company, and also with a legal teeth. A fully autonomous Nepal Railway Board will work as the regulator of the sector, the Bill reads, adding that the board will be authorised to manage separate travelling ticket examiner to ascertain whether passengers are traveling with ticket or not.
The Bill has provision allowing the Nepali company to extend railway service in other countries or foreign companies to extend their services up to Nepali land. Likewise, any foreign company wishing to operate railway service via Nepali land to connect to the third countries will be given permission based on mutual agreement, it reads.
“The government in accordance with the concerned countries can enforce its own conditions, mechanism and work guidelines,” the bill reads, allowing the government to form a separate unit for the security of the railway lines and related services. It has sought a separate license for the operator of the railway service. “But the operator must be a 10 grade pass or above to be eligible for the job.”