SAARC ministers reach consensus

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Aug 26 - SAARC Commerce Ministers in New Delhi last Thursday decided to forge a common front for the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference to be held at Doha in November this year.

According to the Media Reports, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Commerce Ministers issued a joint statement after their meeting to emphasize that "implementation issues" which are a fallout of the Uruguay Round agreements must be resolved upfront without any extraneous linkages.

The resolution of these implementation issues seems to provide a "sufficiently broad agenda for now," it added. The Commerce Ministers agreed that any move to add further issues runs the risk of over-loading the agenda and making it unsustainable, according to the statement at an Internet site.

Pakistani Commerce Minister Abdul Razzak, Sri Lankan Commerce Minister Batty Weerakoon, Nepalese Agriculture Minister Mahesh Acharya and SAARC General Secretary Nihal Rodrigo were amongst those who attended the meeting hosted by India’s Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran, it is learnt.

Pakistan’s Commerce Minister reportedly said that SAARC would strive to rope in other developing countries and "like-minded" countries to put up a united stand at the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha.

Razzak added that there is unanimity among SAARC countries about the need to effectively safeguard their interests in trade related areas before any step is taken to broaden the agenda to include non-trade issues like labor and environment.

Expressing similar views, Sri Lanka’s Commerce Minister is also said to have said, "We have reached full understanding on the position to be taken at Doha meeting".

The joint statement issued by the SAARC Commerce Ministers offers a possible way out of the impasse on the agenda for the Doha Ministerial meet of the WTO in November, say experts here.

Without compromising on the demand voiced by the developing countries that implementation of the existing WTO agreements be accorded primacy at Doha, the SAARC ministers have hinted at a possible conditional acceptance of the proposal for a new round of trade talks.

However, Bangladesh was absent during the talks. Bangladesh is known to have supported the developed countries’ call for a new round largely because the least developed countries have borne the brunt of the adverse effects of the Uruguay Round agreements.

‘Ethanol may be used as alternative fuel’

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Aug 26 - At a time when fuel consumption is growing remarkably and environmental pollution increasing exponentially, experts have suggested that the use of ethanol, a rectified spirit that can be used as alternative fuel, can lessen dependency on foreign countries for petrol and save environment and a considerable amount of convertible currency.

It is estimated that a 10 per cent blend of ethanol in petrol would save at least Rs 270 million per year, given the present trend of petrol consumption.

Experts and government officials at a presentation on Gasohol, a blending of gasoline and ethanol, here Friday said that if the spirit, which is a by-product of sugar mills, is mixed with petrol, it would not only reduce the consumption of petrol, but also help in reducing environmental pollution.

Kalyan Bahadur Pradhan, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, presenting a study report on Ethanol Blending in Petrol said that 10 per cent of ethanol can be blended with petrol without any modification in the petrol engine.

However, he also said that in Malawi 15 to 20 per cent blend is allowed. Currently, there are 11 sugar mills in operation in Nepal and they altogether produce a total of 16,128 kl of rectified spirit out of which about 50 per cent is used in potable alcohol. Hence, an approximate 7200 kl of ethanol can be used for blending with petrol.

Petrol consumption is ever-rising which currently stands at 60,000 kl per anum. Hence, 10 per blend would reduce the consumption of petrol by 60,000 kl, which would save a hopping amount of Rs 270 million annually.

Pradhan also said that an agreement has been reached between Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-run sole distributor of petroleum products in Nepal, and Ethanol Company.

Luciano Contafio, President of Delta-T, a US-based ethanol producing company, said that a 10 per cent blend of ethanol in petrol reduces carbon monoxide emission by 30 per cent, 10 per cent in carbon dioxide and 7 per cent Volatile Organic Productions (VOCs) emissions.

Vijaya Joshi of Vipcon India, said that the blend of ethanol in gasoline would reduce air toxic by 28 per cent, sulpher oxides 11 per cent, sulpher dioxide 4 per cent and cancer risk by as high as 30 per cent.

Since ethanol is produced from sugarcane, it would largely contribute to the betterment of farmers, which would ultimately help reducing poverty, said the experts.

In keeping with the potential of ethanol, Sri Ram Sugar Mills Limited, a member company of Golchha Organization, and Praj Industries of India signed a technical agreement on the occasion. Diwakar Golchha, on behalf of Golchha Organization and Pramod Chaudhary, on behalf of Praj Industries signed the agreement.

Economy, finance and market

By Supa Upadhyay

Domestic money market:

After the ban in sale and purchase of land, the credit transaction of financial sector has been interrupted. As a result, this week the demand of 91-day governemet Treasury Bills rose sharply by about 3.5 times against the notified amount. While, the Average Weighted Discount Rate (AWDR) of 91-day Treasury Bills (TBs) dipped sharply by 74 basis points to 3.80 percent compared to 4.50 percent of previous week. The rupee was traded higher at NPR 99.05 and lower at NPR 99.02 for 91-day TBs. The Repo rate for member banks and institutions have been quoted at 4.3050 for the trading days August 21 to 27 August, 2001. The outright purchase facility for bank, institutions and other on TBs is also available. In the regular weekly auction, the NRB is going to issue 91-day TBs worth NPR 890 million on August 28, 2001.

Domestic capital market:

This week also the share market witnessed a declining trend. Despite having very good performace registered by many banks and finance companies, the prices of those companies sharply fell. Although, there is some problem in the political and economic sector of the country, but the situation is not so worsen in the operation of financial sector. It seems, some speculators are playing their games to accumulate cheap shares. The NEPSE Index-100 opened lower at 312.41 dipped further in all consecutive trading days and eventually closed lower at 298.85, netting a sharp loss of 14.01 points. This week, trading was estimated at 66336 shares valued NPR 29.1 million compared to 38758 shares valued NPR 17.7 million of previous week. Commercial bank and finance companies shared 43.79 percent and 45.31 percent respectively of total traded amount. The Index of Commercial Bank. Finance/Insurance Sector, Hotel Sector, and Production Sector was lost. Business Sector and Other Sector remains unchanged at their previous prices. This week, brokers had quoted the prices of 54 companies on the trading board but only 41 companies were traded. Out of forty-one traded companies, seven companies improved, eighteen companies lost and sixten traded companies remain unchanged at their previous prices. Bank of Kathmaud, Taragaon Regency Hotel, and NIC Bank registered the first, the second and the third most traded companies trading 8888, 6480 and 4900 shares respectively, Shares of Himalayan Bank. Nepal B’desh Bank, NIC Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Sagarmatha Insurance, Siddhartha Finace and Nepal Merchandt Bank and Finance were able to trade in all five working days, Likwise, Standard Chartered Bank, Everest Bank, Nepal Lever Ltd, Premier Insurance, Nepal Housing Development Finance, Universal Finance and Necon Air were able to trade in four working days.

Forex round-up:

The US dollar ended weaker against all major trading partners over the week. The US Federal Reserve lowered key rates on Tuesday by a quarter percentage point, making it the seventh rate cut since January. Dealers expect the dollar will need to test the downside one more time before moving up.

The Euro has racked up gains of some five-percent against the dollar in the last two weeks and around 10 percent since early July. News of the German economy stalled in the second quarter also sapped enthusiasm for the Euro, contrasting with a survey on Wednesday, which showed an unexpected rise in German business confidence. Infact, the Euro has come a long way in a short space of time.

The yen improved after the comment by Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi saying that inflation targeting would be difficult to manage, joining the bank of Japan in playing down the feasibility of such a policy the traders said the comments were mildly yen supportive. The INR ramain almost steady having to impact of US rate cut.