Weekly Summary
Across the week, Nepal’s politics and public administration were shaped by accountability pressures and governance directives, including General Secretary Pokharel directing local committees to select candidates for local elections and the Supreme Court issuing a show-cause order on private secretaries. Violence and public unrest drove repeated interventions and demands for investigations, from Devanaganj violence in Sunsari prompting Home Ministry reshuffle and a seven-day committee probe to Siraha protests leaving 15-year-old Ganesh Yadav shot and killed, with citizens and family members pressing for legal action and impartial scrutiny. Accountability also extended into services and legal enforcement, as Chitwan hospitals closed OPD services after assault on Dr. Pramod Ram and the Central Investigation Bureau arrested former NTA chair Bhupendra Bhandari in the Smart Cell scam.
Forex remained relatively stable over the week: USD/NPR moved within 152.92-153.67 (0.49% net change), starting at NPR 153.67 on Jul 26 and ending at NPR 152.92 on Aug 02; other major pairs traded in narrow ranges (CAD 108.87-109.20, AUD 106.98-107.58, GBP 204.06-205.69, JPY 9.38-9.56). international gold closed near NPR 232,090 per tola; international silver closed near NPR 3,309.
