Ginger farming on the wane in Ilam

RSS

ILAM : Cultivation of ginger, one of the main cash crops of Ilam district, is fast on the wane.

The farmers who planted hundreds of maunds of ginger in their paddy fields instead of rice, are worried as their produce began to rot.

Chitra Bahadur Khawas, a resident of Pashupati Nagar-6 is worried as a kind of insect, 'khumle', has been eating up the cash crop.

He said farmers who exported hundreds of maunds of ginger to indian markets are now growing cereal crops.

Govind poudel of Ilam bazar said one has to wait months even to collect one truck of ginger as against the fact that he had been exporting two truck loads of ginger a few years back.

Chief of the agriculture development office ilam Om Prakash Karna said 28, 081 metric tonnes of ginger was produced in 1,970 hectares of land in the last fiscal year.

Farmers have drawn the attention of the concerned body to improve the farming of ginger.

Inflation at 2.9% Trade deficit widening

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 2: Given the slack economic growth and severe setback in the external sector performance, growth in fiscal year 2001-2002 was only 0.8 per cent. The fiscal sector continued to be weak with poor revenue and growth in expenditure. Besides, a slowdown in economic activities triggered deceleration in monetary aggregates, while the inflation rate increased to 2.9 per cent. The rate of inflation was 2.4 per cent the previous year (2000-2001).

Broad money supply in the banking sector decelerated sharply to 5.5 per cent while narrow money -- in the form of other tools like bonds and debentures -- slowed down moderately to 12.8 per cent compared to 14 per cent the previous year, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Although the banking sector experienced moderate growth in deposits last year, there was sluggish demand for credits leading to a decline in interest rates for both the treasury bills and interbank market.

In order to stabilize the foreign exchange market, Nepal Rastra Bank had intervened 16 times and purchased US dollars nine times and sold them seven times.

Total government expenditure during the review year recorded a rise of 2.3 per cent compared to a sharp increase of 21.8 per cent the previous year (2000-2001).

As the growth of total expenditure was higher than that of the resources, the budgetary deficit widened during the review year.

Both exports and imports registered a decline of 14.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively. However, larger imports triggered the trade deficit to rise by 1.4 per cent during the review period. In spite of the trade deficit and significant rise in the transfer net, the overall balance of payments (BoP) recorded a deficit due to lower service income and capital receipts, the NRB said.

The gross foreign exchange reserves of the banks, which increased marginally by one per cent to Rs. 106.26 billion (including valuation gain) in mid-July 2002 compared to the preceding year was sufficient to finance merchandise imports for about one year.

Broad money growth decelerated significantly to 5.5 per cent (Rs 11.72 billion) from 15.2 per cent last year and amounted to Rs 226.18 billion during the review year. A decline of 2.8 per cent (Rs 2.49 billion) in net foreign assets followed by a lower growth in net domestic assets resulted in the sharp deceleration in broad money.

However, narrow money decelerated moderately to 12.8 per cent (Rs 9.03 billion) amounting to Rs 79.61 billion last fiscal year compared to a growth of 15.7 per cent the previous year.

Domestic growth of the banking system registered a slower growth of 9.1 per cent (Rs 17.08 billion) in the review year as compared to a higher growth of 18.6 per cent the previous year.

This was principally because of deceleration in claims on both the private sector as well as on the public enterprises. The banking sector's credits to the private sector grew by 5.9 per cent (Rs 7.48 billion) only during the review year compared to a larger increase of 15.8 per cent (Rs 17.31 billion) during the previous year.

It is said that sluggish demand for credit in the private sector during FY 2001-2002 led to a decline in interest rate in the money market.

Major indicators of the stock market recorded a bearish trend during the review period. The Nepal Stock Exchange index registered a sharp decline of 120.89 points. It declined to 227.54 while market capitalisation of the listed companies in the NEPSE plummeted by 34 per cent to Rs 34.70 billion from the previous year's level.

The NRB said that the external sector registered a severe setback in its performance during FY 2001-2002. Total exports and imports declined and the BoP recorded a deficit. Total exports declined by 14.6 per cent to Rs. 47.54 billion, whereas there had been an increase in exports by 11.7 per cent the previous year.

Gross foreign exchange holdings of the banking system rose marginally by one per cent to Rs 106.26 billion as of mid- July 2002 compared to a sharp increase of 12.1 per cent the previous year.