Cabinet accepts $305 million ADB loan and grant for road improvement

Cabinet accepts a $285 million ADB loan and a $20 million grant for road improvement

The Cabinet decided on Tuesday to accept a $285 million loan and a $20 million grant from the Asian Development Bank for road improvement, Merolagani, OnlineKhabar and Ratopati reported. None of them reports a signing.

The Cabinet reports name no road. The amounts match a package ADB announced on October 9 for about 70 km of the East-West Highway between Narayanghat and Hetauda and 8.7 km of the Prithvi Highway between Mugling and Abukhaireni. That package also has $750,000 of technical assistance. The Cabinet reports call the loan concessional; ADB's release calls it an ordinary capital resources loan.

The same meeting approved the Fertiliser Control Order 2083. It adds nano fertilisers, biostimulants and commercially produced organic and bio-fertilisers to the list of essential substances, OnlineKhabar reported. The order is still to appear in the Nepal Gazette, Bizshala said, and no report gives a start date.

Ministers also approved a Gazette notice extending land-tenancy deadlines. Tenants could apply to divide land until Kattik 2085, and proceedings would finish by the end of Asar 2086, Merolagani reported.

Why it matters: No official Cabinet document was read; the wording comes from outlets relaying the government's list. No report says when the loan will be signed, or what the new fertiliser status changes in practice.

Cabinet consents to a further government investment in Nepal Reinsurance's rights shares

The Cabinet on Tuesday consented to the government making an additional rights-share investment in Nepal Reinsurance Company, Merolagani and Bizshala reported. It set no amount, ratio or date.

The government holds 44.04 percent. Paid-up capital is about Rs 13.42 billion against the Rs 20 billion the Insurance Authority requires, Kantipur reported. Bizshala's own estimate puts the government's share at about Rs 5.91 billion if the issue is one for one.

The company proposed a 100 percent rights issue in July 2025. Its shares traded at Rs 801 on Tuesday, after reaching Rs 1,800 earlier on hopes of the issue, Kantipur said.

Why it matters: This is the government's consent as a shareholder, and securities board approval and the opening of the issue are later steps. Reports do not say which budget the money comes from.

Insurance Authority publishes a draft engineering insurance directive, Bizshala reports

The draft, open to comment for seven days, would require on-site inspection where the sum insured on contractors' and erection all-risk policies exceeds Rs 10 million, and bar sales below set minimum premium rates, Bizshala reported.

NEPSE gains 6.62 points to 2,664.13 as turnover falls to Rs 5.65 billion

NEPSE closed at 2,664.13 on Tuesday, up 6.62 points, or 0.25 percent, ShareSansar's table and OnlineKhabar English show. That recovers about a fifth of Monday's 32.65-point fall. Turnover was Rs 5.65 billion, against Rs 7.18 billion on Monday.

Of the companies traded, 143 rose, 122 fell and 14 did not move, OnlineKhabar English reported. Nine sub-indices rose and four fell, Bizshala reported. Hotels and tourism led with a 1.07 percent gain, which OnlineKhabar English linked to October's tourist arrivals.

Central bank to sell gold and silver coins on Thursday and Friday

Nepal Rastra Bank will sell 2.5-gram gold asarfi and 10-gram silver coins, having bought 35 kg of gold from banks, OnlineKhabar reported. Prices run 10 to 15 percent above market, it said; Kantipur reported the last asarfi sale in October 2024.

Nepal is preparing to ask India for at least $2 billion, Kantipur reports

Nepal is preparing to ask India for more than $2 billion in loans and grants, Kantipur reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed officials. No request or agreement is reported.

The items it lists add up to $2 billion: a $1 billion concessional loan, mainly for transmission lines and infrastructure, a $500 million grant for the Siddhartha Highway, and $500 million for reconstruction after the Bhotekoshi flood. It does not say whether the flood money is a loan or a grant.

A separate $750 million loan requested earlier is still under consideration, former ambassador Shankar Sharma told Kantipur. Prime Minister Shah is expected in India in the first week of Mangsir, the paper said.

Why it matters: Neither government has confirmed the figures. Nepal had already asked India for flood reconstruction support without a stated amount, The Kathmandu Post reported in September.

Public bodies must publish works and goods bids through the new e-GP system

The procurement office requires national and international works and goods bids to go only through the new system, and bids may be filed online or on paper, OnlineKhabar reported. Consultancy procurement follows within the fiscal year, Kantipur said.

Anti-graft commission files a Rs 734.96 million land-swap case against 97 people

The commission's Special Court filing on Tuesday names former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Minendra Rijal among the accused over Biratnagar land, The Kathmandu Post and Merolagani reported. These are allegations; the court has not ruled.

World Bank report gives Nepal about two decades to gain from its working-age population, Post reports

Nepal's working-age population peaks in 2047 and the country becomes an aged society in 2059, The Kathmandu Post reported on Tuesday from a World Bank regional report, Demographic Change in South Asia: From Tailwinds to Headwinds for Development.

Remittances are about a quarter of Nepal's GDP, the paper said, and accounted for 40 percent of poverty reduction between 2001 and 2011. About 91 percent of Nepali workers aged 65 and over are in the informal sector.

Across South Asia, 17 percent of the working-age population pays into a pension scheme and 10 percent of older people receive a pension.

Why it matters: The report's own page could not be read. A World Bank conference of the same title met in Colombo on October 28 and 29, so the findings may have been public before the Post's report.

Rasuwagadhi Hydropower says it cannot pay loan principal, OnlineKhabar reports

Rasuwagadhi Hydropower paid bank interest to the end of Asar (mid-July) and cannot pay principal after that, the company told OnlineKhabar. Its secretary said it also missed the Asoj instalment to the Employees' Provident Fund.

The 111 MW plant stopped after the Bhotekoshi flood of Bhadau 10 (August 26). The company had about Rs 17.70 billion in loans, ShareSansar reported in October.

Fourteen hydropower projects were damaged. Their reconstruction waits on the post-disaster needs assessment, the energy ministry's spokesperson said. Chilime has called a tender to clear gravel and debris from its underground powerhouse.

Why it matters: The report does not say whether lenders or the provident fund have responded, or when the assessment is due. The ministry put the 14 projects at about 783 MW in September.