Latest
Saturday, 10 October 2026
- Policy & Power · Public debt
Nepal's public debt reaches 45% of GDP just as a Rs 723bn flood bill arrives
Debt has more than quadrupled in a decade to Rs 2.97 trillion. The government wants grants, not loans, to rebuild after the Rasuwa flood, but officials doubt grants will be enough.
- Economy · Prices
Nepal's inflation nears 6%, and the figures predate the flood
Consumer prices rose 5.96% in the year to mid-August, more than triple the rate a year earlier. Cooking oil, fruit and transport led, and wholesale prices rose faster still.
- Economy · Growth outlook
World Bank and ADB cut Nepal's growth forecasts as the Rasuwa flood hits industry
The World Bank now expects growth of 3.7% this fiscal year and the ADB 4.1%. Both say reconstruction will lift output later, at the cost of higher prices and a wider deficit.
- Companies · Coffee
Nepal grows prized coffee for Europe and Japan, but imports 29 times as much as it sells
Customs data show Rs 1.85bn of coffee imports against Rs 72m of exports in nine months. Most of the bill is instant coffee, while home-grown beans struggle on price.
- Economy · Herbs
Yarsagumba prices fall by half as Nepal's herb trade shifts to humbler plants
Bulk prices for the caterpillar fungus have slid from Rs 3.2m a kilo before the pandemic, and harvests keep shrinking. Lowland herbs sold to India are growing instead.
- Companies · Pharmaceuticals
Nepal's drugmakers run at a third of capacity, caught between cheap imports and capped prices
Domestic producers supply about half the country's medicines. Raw material costs have soared, the regulator has refused a price rise, and producers want imports of locally made drugs stopped.
- Policy & Power · Carpets
A US paperwork rule stalls Nepal's carpet exports to their biggest market
Since 8 July, American importers must file safety certificates electronically at entry. Nepali exporters say they lack the facilities to comply and have asked for a year's grace.
- Economy · Food trade
Nepal's food imports jump 47% in two months, led by edible oil and vegetables
Customs data show farm and food imports of Rs 87.1bn from mid-July to mid-September. Grain purchases fell, but edible oil and vegetables surged.
- Economy · Tea
Nepal's tea exports fell 15% after India's testing rules left tonnes stuck at the border
Two months of mandatory laboratory checks closed factories in Ilam and Jhapa. India has eased the rules, but growers who sell nine-tenths of their orthodox tea there are wary.
- Economy · Spices
Black cardamom earns Nepal a record Rs 12.6bn as the new crop opens at a higher price
The spice became Nepal's second-largest export last year on price rather than volume. Almost all of it still goes to India unprocessed, and farmers keep a small share of the value.
- Economy · Farm inputs
Indian fertiliser reaches Nepal for wheat after a paddy season of empty depots
Rail consignments of urea and DAP from a 60,000-tonne government deal are arriving at Birgunj, after farmers queued at empty depots for fertiliser during rice planting.
- Companies · Roads
Nepal's first road tunnel opens in phases, with tolls set to roughly match its running costs
The Rs 29bn Nagdhunga tunnel took 80 months to build against a 42-month contract. Only cars and small vans use it so far, toll-free, while heavier traffic waits for later phases.
- Companies · Hydropower
16,400MW of hydropower waits for a buyer as Nepal moves to cancel idle licences
The state utility has not committed to buy power from 281 projects. A government panel wants 38 stalled schemes cancelled, and only projects of up to 10MW are being offered quick contracts.
- Companies · Solar
Over a third of Nepal's 960MW solar tender has yet to break ground
Developers bid as low as Rs 4.99 a unit when the dollar cost Rs 135. With the dollar near Rs 154 and a licensing dispute over land, 346MW of projects is stuck.
- Companies · Transmission
A 400kV line begun in 2013 is about to be charged as ADB lines up private grid builders
The Hetauda-Dhalkebar link should raise east-west transfer capacity from about 300MW to 2,000MW. ADB will help the NEA tender a second 400kV line and battery storage to private investors.
- Companies · Railways
Two railways to Kathmandu, from China and India, are still waiting on paperwork
China's feasibility study for the Kerung line was due in June, and India's Raxaul survey awaits approval in Delhi. Both routes would be mostly tunnels and bridges, and neither has a financing plan.
- Companies · Railways
Freight trains reach Biratnagar as Nepal's only passenger railway keeps losing money
A direct container service from Kolkata opened a second rail gateway for Nepali importers in July. In Madhesh, the Jaynagar line inches towards Bardibas while its operator runs deficits.
- Companies · Water supply
Five years after the flood, Kathmandu's Melamchi water still runs on a temporary intake
Another monsoon flood cut Melamchi's supply to the capital in July. A permanent headworks is now targeted for 2029, while 28 court cases over the old contract remain open.
- Companies · Utility finances
Nepal's power utility lifted sales by 18%, but currency losses cut its profit by 59%
The Nepal Electricity Authority's pre-tax profit fell to about Rs 5bn in 2025/26 as currency losses on its obligations nearly quadrupled, even though sales rose 18%.
- Policy & Power · Education
Nepal's private schools win on a 3% levy but face a hard line on fees
The prime minister scrapped a proposed equity fee on private schools in July, months after his education ministry ordered refunds of fees charged beyond the legal limits.
- Policy & Power · Health
Nepal's health insurer clears Rs 23bn of hospital bills, but only up to December
The Health Insurance Board paid hospitals Rs 23.44bn after private providers suspended services, yet claims since mid-December 2025 remain unfunded and a promised overhaul has no financing plan.
- Policy & Power · Air safety
Bills to split Nepal's aviation regulator stall weeks before an EU deadline
The government wants off the EU air safety list by January 2027, but the two bills separating the regulator from the airport operator reached parliament only hours before it was prorogued.
- Companies · Airlines
Nepal's domestic airlines lost 540,000 passengers as fuel costs pushed up fares
Passenger numbers fell 12% in 2025/26 after jet fuel prices almost doubled and fares rose by up to 40%, leaving several carriers with negative balance sheets, their association says.
- Companies · Two-wheelers
Nepal's motorcycle market reaches a four-year high, and four in five are assembled at home
Imports of motorcycles and scooters rose 30% last fiscal year to 277,291 units, most as kits for local plants, and the new year has started at a similar pace with electric scooters gaining.
- Companies · Telecom
Nepal Telecom's profit jumps 48% as it waits for 5G spectrum
The state operator earned Rs 8.86bn last year on modest revenue growth, while its plan for 5G in Kathmandu and Pokhara still depends on the regulator assigning frequencies.
- Economy · Mountaineering
Two mountains earn almost all of Nepal's climbing royalties
Everest in spring and Manaslu in autumn account for nearly nine-tenths of permit revenue, leaving dozens of other open peaks with a sliver of the income after the 2025 fee rise.
- Companies · Hotels
Nepal's hotels can host four million visitors a year. About 1.2 million come
A year after the protest fires, most damaged hotels have reopened, but the deeper problem for owners is a room stock built for three times the tourists who actually arrive.
- Companies · Regulation
Nepal's central bank lets banks merge branches, but not dismiss the staff who run them
New rules allow banks to consolidate urban branches if they open rural ones, give customers 90 days' notice and transfer, not lay off, employees.
- Companies · Consumer credit
Nepal has 30m mobile banking users but only about 335,000 credit cards
Credit card lending grew 29% last year to Rs 8bn, yet remains a sliver of bank loans. A virtual card that works on QR codes is growing faster than plastic ever did.
- Companies · Payments
Nepal's ATMs and card machines lose ground as QR payments reach 72m a month
Central bank data show QR payments up 77% in a year while ATM withdrawals, debit card use and card-terminal payments all fell. The country now has fewer cash machines than a year ago.
