By Our Reporter
The price of everything seems to be going up around the world. And its impact was also noticed in Nepal with the rise of the prices of petroleum products.
Gas, coal, carbon and electricity are all hitting record highs, while the price of oil has already passed $80 a barrel for the first time in three years and natural gas is the costliest in seven. Meanwhile, food prices are surging, too, with a UN index up 33% over the past 12 months.
This is unwelcome news for the world economy as a whole at a time when supply chains are already strained, because of COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons.
For a country like Nepal which heavily depends on imported goods, the rising price could have had a negative impact. As Nepal has to buy goods in US dollars, it will be spending more to buy everyday goods and other items. When the fuel price is high, the transportation costs go up leading to the price hike of every item.
Now when many poor families are finding it difficult to buy gas, a further increase in the prices of fuel could drive many city families back to villages. Surprisingly, the government has not increased the pay of workers at par with the increasing prices of commodities.
The rising price of imported items will exert pressure on foreign currency reserves while further widening the trade deficit. If the government does not take measures to discourage import and increase production in homes and encourage the use of electricity in place of fossil fuel, the country’s economy is likely to suffer heavily.
Ambassador nominees to India, UK and USA, endorsed, China is not in priority
The Parliamentary Hearing Committee under the Federal Parliament has approved names of the proposed ambassadorial nominees for India, the USA, and the UK unanimously.
A meeting of the Committee held on Singha Durbar on Monday had endorsed the nominations of ambassadors proposed for India Dr Shankar Sharma, for the UK Gyan Chandra Acharya, and for the USA Shreedhar Khatri.
Laxman Lal Karna, Chairman of the Committee, said that they approved the names of ambassadors for three different countries.
“We examined the nominees with their presentations, experiences, qualifications, ideas, and concepts before we approved their names for the responsibilities of ambassador to the respective countries,” he said.
However, the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba has surprisingly undermined the importance of China by not appointing any ambassador to the northern neighbour.
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