Birgunj customs collects Rs 26.73 billion in Asoj, just above its monthly target

Birgunj customs collects Rs 26.73 billion in Asoj, about 1 percent over its target

Birgunj Customs Office brought in Rs 26.73 billion in Asoj, against a monthly target of Rs 26.46 billion, Kantipur reported on Monday from the office's data. That is about 101 percent of the target, or roughly Rs 266 million over it.

Fuel, new vehicles, iron and iron goods, alcohol and industrial raw materials brought in most of the money. The paper credited festival demand for imports and faster clearance at the border.

Birgunj carries a large share of the national load. Its annual target is Rs 294 billion, or 46.82 percent of the Rs 628 billion that customs as a whole is asked to collect, according to Kantipur. Last fiscal year the office had a target of Rs 273.39 billion and fell about Rs 30 billion short, Kantipur reported in July.

The report gives no running total for the first three months of the year. So it can't be said yet whether the office is on course for the year. It gives no comparison with Asoj last year either.

Why it matters: Government revenue as a whole came close to its Asoj target but ended the first quarter Rs 30.45 billion short, Bizshala reported on Sunday. No customs department release with the Birgunj figure was found.

Government raised Rs 358.66 billion in internal debt last fiscal year, OnlineKhabar reports

The federal government raised Rs 358.66 billion in internal debt in FY 2082/83, equal to 5.43 percent of GDP, OnlineKhabar reported on Monday from the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission's annual report. This year's borrowing target is Rs 410 billion.

Seventeen local governments raised Rs 338.7 million between them, the report said, some of it through city development funds kept outside their budgets. The commission's report itself was public by early October. Monday's article is the first found to carry these figures.

Why it matters: Outstanding domestic debt stood at Rs 1,263 billion at the end of FY 2081/82, 20.68 percent of GDP, Ratopati reported on October 8 from the same report. The reports read do not settle which borrowing limit applied last year.

About 10 containers cross at Tatopani in two days as traders ask China to keep it open

Three cargo containers came in on Sunday and seven by Monday evening, a customs officer said, Kantipur reported. China allows only cargo trucks through. A cross-border traders' association has written to the Chinese government and embassy asking for regular operation.

Foreign Employment Board keeps free transport of migrant workers' bodies running over the festivals

The board's secretariat said its free transport of the bodies of workers who died abroad, from Tribhuvan airport to their homes, will run round the clock through Dashain, Tihar and Chhath, OnlineKhabar reported.

About 200,000 Nepalis a year travel abroad for tourism and pilgrimage, OnlineKhabar reports

Departures for tourism and pilgrimage averaged about 199,976 a year from 2021 to 2025, peaking at 274,428 in 2024 and falling to 233,108 in 2025, OnlineKhabar English reported from Department of Immigration data.

Energy ministry committee drafts a roadmap to split the electricity authority in three

A committee led by the head of the energy ministry's Energy Division is drafting a roadmap to split the Nepal Electricity Authority into three companies: one for generation, one for transmission, and one for distribution and trade. OnlineKhabar reported this on Monday from the ministry's latest progress report.

The roadmap is still a draft. Ownership, jurisdiction and how assets are divided have not been settled, OnlineKhabar English reported, and no Cabinet decision was cited.

The split itself was announced in the budget in May, ShareSansar reported then.

Why it matters: OnlineKhabar says the budget set the restructuring for completion this fiscal year. The reports give no date for the roadmap and do not say what happens to the generation, grid and trading companies set up from 2017.

Army hands over a Bailey bridge at flood-hit Arughat to the Gorkha road office

The Nepal Army handed the Gorkha Road Project a Bailey bridge over the Budhi Gandaki at Arughat, linking Dhading and Gorkha, Kantipur reported on Monday. The Asoj 25 (October 11) flood took out the Gorkha-side section of the concrete bridge.