ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Thursday, November 14

Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 14, 2019). ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Thursday, November 14

Nepal imports nearly two-thirds of all its needs from India--ranging from food items to petroleum products. TKP File

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Post Report

Published at : November 14, 2019

Updated at : November 14, 2019 14:59

Kathmandu

Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 14, 2019).

Nepal isn't just importing two-thirds of its needs from India, it’s also importing inflation

Nepal is dependent on imports for the bulk of its needs and if the prices of a product increase in the country exporting it, due to higher local demand or a supply shortage such as the currently prevailing onion crisis in India, consumers in Nepal, consequently, have to shell out more to buy the same stuff.

Nepal imports nearly two-thirds of all its needs from India—ranging from food items to petroleum products. Since Nepal uses foreign currency to pay for a major part of its imports, local economists fear that in the foreseeable future, it may face more headwinds from imported inflation, given its depleting foreign exchange reserves and the peg of its currency to the Indian rupee, which currently is on a downward spiral.

Economists don’t see a reason to panic yet, but the threshold as far as the country’s foreign exchange reserves are concerned may not be too far into the horizon.

For Everest enthusiasts, an unpleasant experience awaits at Manthali airport

Until a few years ago, the Ramechhap airport at Manthali was a grassland. The airport, built by villagers in 1979 by contributing their labour, had nearly closed after Nepal Airlines stopped flying there a decade ago. In 2015, the runway was upgraded from grass to concrete and test flights were conducted in August 2016. Before being blacktopped, the airport used to see about 10 flights per day for cargo operations. But except for a few flights every year, the airport was all but dead.

But early this year, the airport sprang back to life. In order to ease congestion at Tribhuvan International Airport and facilitate ongoing runway repair works, all Lukla flights were rerouted to fly from Manthali. An airport that had barely seen a dozen flights in the last decade began to handle 85 flights daily, and it was ill-equipped to deal with the hundreds of tourists arriving daily. The airport lacks proper parking, a waiting room, toilets and even a restaurant.

Nepal Airlines cuts price in half to offload vintage Boeing 757

Nepal Airlines has halved the sale price and invited direct negotiations to offload its vintage Boeing 757 that remains unsold even after publishing two consecutive auction notices.

The national flag carrier has set the minimum base price of the aircraft, engines and spare parts at $4.25 million. The first two auction notices had quoted a minimum sale price of $7.8 million. The aircraft bearing registration number 9N-ACB was valued at $5.4 million out of the total sale price.

The carrier's last Boeing 757, which served the country for 31 years, has been sitting at Tribhuvan International Airport for nine months now, accumulating airport parking taxes and insurance fees while awaiting a buyer.

After disputes over editing, Wikipedia disables further editing on Kalapani entry

Wikipedia has disabled the editing feature of the article ‘Kalapani territory’ after Nepali and Indian users started editing the page continuously in the wake of a controversy sparked by a new Indian political map released last week.

The article was first created on December 14, 2010, and had been barely edited in the last nine years. But the Wikipedia entry started received continuous editing from Nepali and Indian users since last week, with both sides making their own claims over the territory. Nepal’s government, in a statement last week, said there is no doubt that the territory belongs to Nepal.