The benchmark policy rate at which the central bank of Nepal loans to commercial banks was decreased to 7.5% on Friday from 8.5%. Following the third quarter monetary policy review, Prakash Kumar Shrestha, head of the central bank’s Economic Research Department, told Reuters that “there is contraction in economic activities and the move is expected to reverse the slowdown.” Following the third quarter monetary policy review, Prakash Kumar Shrestha, head of the central bank’s Economic Research Department, told Reuters that “there is contraction in economic activities and the move is expected to reverse the slowdown.” Retail inflation increased slightly from 7.28% in the nine months to mid-April of last year to 7.76% in the nine months to mid-April of this year, above the central bank’s aim of keeping annual inflation to 7% but falling short of the over 8% in September of last year.
“Inflation is largely stable and is expected to further ease because of stable inflation in India,” Shrestha said, referring to India, Nepal’s southern neighbor, which provides all of its fuel and virtually all of its consumer products. As remittances and tourist revenue increased, forex reserves, which had fallen to about $9 billion in July, increased to $10.9 billion, enough to fund imports for more than nine months, according to a separate statement from Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat.
The government’s center-left coalition is under pressure to lower interest rates to single digits after trade and business representatives in Nepal protested over higher rates that reached 13% last year. Former central bank governor Deependra Bahadur Kshetri told Reuters that “this could have put pressure on the central bank to lower rates.”
Although the external sector has seen some recovery lately, according to Kshetri, it was still too soon to “follow relatively softer monetary policy.” The government’s 8% growth goal for this year’s $40 billion GDP could only be reached, according to the state-run National Statistics Office, because of a decline in manufacturing, construction, and commerce.
This month, the IMF predicted Nepal might expand by 4.4%.
(The crew at Devdiscourse did not edit this article; it was automatically created from a syndicated feed.) According to World Bank President David Malpass on Friday, the danger of a U.S. default is aggravating issues with the weakening global economy, which is already hampered by increasing interest rates and excessive debt levels. Investments are required to support stronger production. For the first time ever, Group of Seven (G7) finance officials met in Japan and addressed the “very high importance” of lifting the U.S. debt ceiling and preventing a possible default on U.S. government debt. According to World Bank President David Malpass on Friday, the danger of a U.S. default is aggravating issues with the weakening global economy, which is already hampered by increasing interest rates and excessive debt levels. Investments are required to support stronger production.
For the first time ever, Group of Seven (G7) finance officials met in Japan and addressed the “very high importance” of lifting the U.S. debt ceiling and preventing a possible default on U.S. government debt. He told Reuters on the margins of the G7 summit that “clearly, distress in the world’s largest economy would be detrimental for everyone.” “Not completing it would have bad consequences.”
On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reaffirmed that the failure of Congress to increase the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling would result in a financial and economic meltdown and pleaded on the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to do the same. Malpass said that the need to increase productivity and growth as well as address the significant debt burden that an increasing number of nations are experiencing were discussed at the G7 meetings.
He predicted that by 2023, global growth will be below 2% and would continue to be below that level for some time. One of the major issues, according to him, was that wealthy economies had accumulated so much debt that it would need a lot of money to pay it, leaving too little money for investment in developing nations. This calls for a protracted era of modest development. That’s a major concern, particularly for individuals in developing nations, he added. “The financial systems seem to be holding up despite the strained state of the planet. How can you increase growth and productivity is the key question.
Malpass emphasized the need of moving forward with debt restructuring for nations unable to pay their loans. He did, however, mention Ghana, the fourth nation to request assistance via the Common Framework of the Group of 20. He noted how difficult it was for nations to attract investment prior to the conclusion and implementation of debt restructuring agreements and said it was discouraging to observe the poor pace of action on the sovereign debt restructuring front.
Malpass said that at the first two sessions of a new Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, which includes China, the biggest sovereign creditor in the world, and private sector creditors, some progress had been achieved. He said that a third meeting was now scheduled for June. “It is crucial to really achieve these debt reductions… for impoverished nations who have reached their breaking point with regard to unaffordable debt. It’s crucial to do it as quickly as feasible. Tata Motors, a leading domestic automaker, declared a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,408 crore on Friday for the fourth quarter that ended on March 31, 2023.
In a regulatory statement, Tata Motors said that the business incurred a combined net loss of Rs 1,033 crore during the January-March quarter of the 2021–22 fiscal.
According to the statement, total operating revenue for the fourth quarter was Rs 1,05,932 crore, up from Rs 78.439 crore in the same quarter last year.
In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2022–22, the carmaker declared a net profit of Rs. 2,696 crore for the period under review.
The auto giant declared a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,414 crore for the year that ended March 31, 2023, as opposed to a net loss of Rs 1,441 crore in FY22.
In the reviewed period, total consolidated income was Rs 3,45,967 crore, compared to Rs 2,78,454 crore in the fiscal year 2021–2022.
On the BSE, shares of the business closed 0.78 percent down at Rs. 5 15.65 a share. German Foreign Minister Lindner expressed his optimism that American legislators will make a “grown-up” choice in the negotiations to increase the $31.4 trillion debt limit, the maximum amount of borrowing that the U.S. government is permitted to do. The prospect of a U.S. default, according to World Bank President David Malpass, exacerbates issues already plaguing the global economy as it enters a protracted era of poor growth.According to German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Friday, the Group of Seven (G7) advanced nations’ financial chiefs highlighted the need to strengthen global supply chains by decreasing their dependency on China. Japan has been in the forefront of new initiatives to diversify supply chains away from China by forming alliances with low- and middle-income nations via investment and assistance. The country is hosting a three-day G7 summit to discuss important global issues in the city of Niigata.
According to Lindner, during a news conference, nations like Germany sought to lessen their reliance on China. Emerging and low-income nations are important in this situation, he said. But even if the G7 affluent democracies are expected to agree on the cooperation agreement to strengthen supply chains, they disagree on how far they should go to confront China, the second-largest economy in the world that is not a member of the G7.
The United States is leading the charge for greater action. To offset what she saw as Beijing’s “economic coercion” on other nations, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has urged for targeted curbs on investment to China. Germany is apprehensive of China as a geopolitical foe, but given its dependence on trade with China, it is also afraid of being seen as forming a G7 front against Beijing.
According to government insiders, Japan is likewise skeptical of the concept of investment limits because of the significant effect such a move may have on international commerce and its own economy. The proposal was discussed during the G7 summit, but a representative of the Japanese finance ministry who attended said to reporters on Friday that Japan’s actions were not directed at any one nation.
The Nikkei newspaper quoted British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt as saying that the G7 must resist China’s economic pressure, although he made no mention of investment restrictions. WORLDWIDE RISKS LOOM
Lack of movement in addressing the U.S. debt limit impasse hung over the summit. The G7 countries’ frail economies can hardly afford any additional risks, and some voices of worry were raised over the potentially disastrous outcomes if the U.S. were to fail to break the deadlock, which might send its economy into recession.
In order to avert a disastrous default, a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and key parliamentarians that was originally set for this Friday has been postponed until early next week. German Foreign Minister Lindner expressed his optimism that American legislators will make a “grown-up” choice in the negotiations to increase the $31.4 trillion debt limit, the maximum amount of borrowing that the U.S. government is permitted to do.
The prospect of a U.S. default, according to World Bank President David Malpass, exacerbates issues already plaguing the global economy as it enters a protracted era of poor growth. According to Malpass, who spoke on Friday in Niigata, “it looks like global growth will fall below 2% this year in 2023,” but if you look at subsequent years, it might remain low for a number of years.
After three U.S. banks failed, stubbornly high inflation pushed the central banks of the U.S. and Europe to rapidly raise interest rates, which hurt their economies and stoked concerns about financial instability. According to a representative of the Japanese finance ministry, the G7 conference covered the state of the world financial system as well as strategies to prevent another digital bank run.The source stressed that although the (global financial system) is robust at the moment, caution should nevertheless be used. After their three-day gathering comes to a conclusion on Saturday, the G7 finance chiefs are anticipated to release a united statement. FOREX-greatest weekly rise for the dollar since February is expected.
At $1.091, the euro was somewhat lower versus the dollar than it had been the day before, when it had reached its lowest level since April 11. Since investors were uneasy this week due to the U.S. debt limit dispute and some other bank-related concerns, analysts said that the dollar may have benefitted from its reputation as a safe-haven investment.