WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 274 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 30.0 C -1.4 C Wednesday, December 02, 2020 | 17-08-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla A birthday cake, a bitter shouting match and a sour note at the end As the Nepal Communist Party Secretariat reconvenes, there is no conciliation in sight since the conflict continues to be a battle of egos between the party chairmen. TIKA R PRADHAN tion and we want to reach a conclu- KATHMANDU, DEC 1 sion through discussions.” Party insiders say reconciliation in As the Nepal Communist Party the party is not possible anytime soon, Secretariat members sat for a meeting as the two chairs appear to be in a on Tuesday, they cut the cake—to hostile mode. The fight in the ruling mark General Secretary Bishnu party now has boiled down to a battle Poudel’s birthday—ate it and immedi- of egos between the two chairmen, ately after, descended into a bitter according to them. shouting match. According to Secretariat members, Party chair and Prime Minister KP Dahal is adamant about holding a dis- Sharma Oli opened the meeting, lash- cussion on his political paper, which ing out at other chair Pushpa Kamal Oli says deserves outright discarding. Dahal and demanded that the latter The Dahal-Nepal faction says since withdraw his political document and political papers of both the chairs are apologise. Oli has dubbed Dahal’s doc- formally with the Secretariat, discus- ument, presented at the November 13 sions on them have already started. Secretariat meeting, a “collection of “Majority of members are in favour indictments” stemming from the lat- of discussing the papers so discussion ter’s personal grudges and limitless will continue,” said Narayan Kaji POST PHOTO: ANGAD DHAKAL frustration, guided by vested interests. Shrestha, a Secretariat member and A worker sprays disinfectant inside a movie theatre at New Baneshwor, Kathmandu. Cinema owners have demanded that the government allow them to screen films. Schools, colleges, party venues “As soon as the meeting started, Oli party spokesperson. and cinemas have yet to reopen since the government imposed a lockdown in March to check the spread of the coronavirus even as other sectors have opened in a gradual lifting of restrictions. demanded that Dahal’s document be Dahal has demanded that whether withdrawn with an apology,” a his document should be discussed by Secretariat member told the Post. the Secretariat or not should be decid- “Except party General Secretary ed by the meeting. But Oli appears to Bishnu Poudel, all other Secretariat be dead against letting the Secretariat members turned down Oli’s call.” discuss Dahal’s paper. Despite economy taking a hit during the pandemic, Dahal then, according to the mem- According to a Secretariat member, ber, interrupted charging Oli with who is on Dahal’s side, even Ishwar playing factional politics. Pokhrel, who is close to Oli, said that “You [Oli] might be trying to incite discussions on the proposal cannot be the stock market witnesses a record high us,” the member quoted Dahal as say- blocked. ing. “But we want an amicable solu- >> Continued on page 2 Easy access to bank loans against shares, lack of opportunities elsewhere, and largely consistent bank profits fuel bull run but regulators urge investors to exercise caution. tions lent Rs59.4 billion during the first quarter (between mid-July and mid-October) of the current fiscal year against Rs45.32 billion during the same period in the last fiscal year, according to the central bank’s data. This, in turn, has led speculators to the stock market. “Bullish run in the market also brought confidence among the inves- tors,” said Lamsal. “Better than expected financial indicators of most of the listed companies even during the coronavirus pandemic also boost- ed the morale of many investors.” Gunakar Bhatta, spokesperson for the central bank, also considers excess liquidity in the banking system due to the low demand for loans from other sectors as the factor that helped the stock market grow. “Many people are in leisure due to the lack of economic activities like in the normal times. Therefore, they POST ILLUSTRATION are now investing in the stock market The central bank’s latest monetary policy too has helped the bull run in the stock market. as the loans are easily available,” he told the Post. PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA domestic economic situations, finan- Another factor is that banks have KATHMANDU, DEC 1 cial situation of the listed companies, just announced their first quarter corporate governance and their risk profits and bank stocks, which are At a time when the business commu- absorbing capacities before taking generally the most traded shares in nity is crying for help from the gov- investment decisions, investors do not Nepal’s stock market. ernment citing the catastrophic seem to be concerned. Profit after tax of commercial impact of coronavirus on their busi- The country’s economy is expected banks may have gone down during the nesses, the pandemic appears to have to grow by a mere 0.6 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year little to no impact on the country’s current fiscal year, according to the but this has not deterred the investors share market. World Bank. In the last fiscal year of the secondary market as they say On Tuesday, the Nepse index 2019-20, economic growth was project- its first quarter profits are not as bad reached a record high of 2000.04 ed at 2.27 percent by the Central as expected. points as the market went up consist- Bureau of Statistics as a result of the Commercial banks made a profit of ently for the last seven days growing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rs14.60 billion during the first quarter by 219.97 points between November 23 Ironically, the poor economy has of this fiscal year compared to Rs15.62 and December 1. On Sunday alone spurred the growth in the stock market. billion during the same period last there was a record turnover of Rs9.22 According to investors and officials, fiscal, according to their quarterly billion. coronavirus has emerged as an oppor- financial reports. This bullish unnatural run of the tunity rather than a threat for stock The other reason, according to the stock market even prompted the investors as it has helped them get investors and analysts, is that this is Securities Board of Nepal, the regula- loans from banks and financial insti- also the time when the listed compa- tor of the country’s stock market, as tutions easily since investment oppor- nies announce dividends and many well as the Nepal Stock Exchange, the tunities for them in other sectors are have purchased shares for the lure of secondary market, to warn investors limited. dividends. about the risks if they fail to make They say that the biggest factor “But most of the investors current- investment decisions wisely. contributing to a bullish run is the ly are buying the stocks in the second- “It will be beneficial for the inves- availability of loans from banks and ary market to make money through tors to make investment decisions by financial institutions at cheaper inter- share trading instead of getting divi- analysing the overall financial and est rates. dends,” said Chandra Singh Saud, economic indicators,” the securities “Loans against the collateral of chief executive officer of Nepal Stock board said in a statement on Monday. shares are available faster, easily and Exchange. “When the market takes a Despite the Board urging investors at cheaper interest rates than ever bullish run, such a tendency appears not to run after rumours but to be before,” said Rajan Lamsal, secretary among the investors.” mindful of the international and of Nepal Investors’ Forum, a grouping Investing in stock has been more of stock investors. “We can get lucrative than depositing money in loans in abundance at an interest the banks and financial institutions rate as low as 7.5 percent. Even whose interest rate for deposits has after paying the interest, there is shrunk sharply in the recent months the scope for getting a return of due to high liquidity in the banking 5-7 percent from the dividends of system, according to Lamsal. the companies.” Another reason is that in recent Nepal Rastra Bank data cor- months, many companies have not roborates Lamsal’s view about issued initial public offerings and fur- credit facility from banks against ther public offerings, which are the the collateral of shares being preferred options for stock investors utilised during the first quarter because they can get shares at a cheap- of the current fiscal year. er rate. Banks and financial institu- >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Construction of a bridge over Arun river delayed by a decade The foundation stone of the bridge was laid 10 years ago but work remains incomplete. ALISHA SHRESTHA BHOJPUR, DEC 1 The foundation stone of a bridge over Arun river in Lamsuwaghat along the border of Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur was laid a decade ago. But the bridge’s construction is yet to com- plete. Swachhand Construction Services, a contractor company, had agreed to construct the bridge on July 9, 2010. Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, the then deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Planning and Construction, had laid the foundation stone of the bridge in 2010. In the last 10 years, only six pillars of the 167 metres bridge have been built.