Weekly Summary
Nepal pushed governance and accountability efforts forward through ratification of the ILO Forced Labour Convention, creation of an asset investigation commission, and legal contestation as Nepali Congress challenged House-passed regulations in court. The week’s most consequential court focus was accountability in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, where the Kathmandu District Court found Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Bal Krishna Khand guilty (with sentencing scheduled for July 13), while the Ganesh Nepali death triggered intensified demands for a fair probe and government family talks reported as continuing without post-mortem agreement. In parallel, institutions advanced policy and public-safety measures as President Ramchandra Paudel certified four bills, authorities reported rescuing 836 Nepali citizens from online fraud, and an APF school financial irregularity case led to the arrest of Inspector Kalpana Gurung and Lilabahadur Lama over alleged unaccounted funds (details were not specified in the digest beyond the alleged NPR 9 crore amount).
Forex remained relatively stable over the week: USD/NPR moved within 152.26-153.20 (0.12% net change), starting at NPR 152.64 on Jul 05 and ending at NPR 152.83 on Jul 12; other major pairs traded in narrow ranges (CAD 107.10-108.20, AUD 105.71-106.17, GBP 203.64-205.03, JPY 9.40-9.46). Local fine gold showed a downtrend of NPR -1,400 per tola, ending at NPR 288,000; international gold closed near NPR 236,103 per tola; local silver remained downtrend around NPR 4,475; international silver closed near NPR 3,434.
