Weekly Summary
Across the week, parliamentary and governance friction intensified around Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s parliamentary absence and walkout and an opposition-driven push to force parliamentary supremacy, while the National Assembly advanced decisions on eight government ordinances and Law Minister Sobita Gautam tabled two election-related bills. In courts and accountability, financial misconduct cases moved through multiple stages, including Rishav Karki’s incarceration over alleged misappropriation of NPR 16.5 million+ and Kaski District Court withdrawing organized crime and money-laundering charges against Rabi Lamichhane and two others. Economic and social policy threads included the government’s plan for LPG subsidy phase-out and shift toward electric stoves, Finance Minister Prakash Wagle’s commitment to remove Nepal from the FATF grey list, and continued administration actions like bank overtime pay rules and FNCCI leadership continuity via Surakrushna Baidya’s election.
Forex remained relatively stable over the week: USD/NPR moved within 153.41-155.22 (0.29% net change), starting at NPR 153.85 on May 17 and ending at NPR 153.41 on May 24; other major pairs traded in narrow ranges (CAD 111.19-112.76, AUD 109.27-110.59, GBP 205.01-207.94, JPY 9.64-9.76). Local fine gold showed a downtrend of NPR -3,900 per tola, ending at NPR 290,900; international gold closed near NPR 259,314 per tola; local silver remained downtrend around NPR 5,010; international silver closed near NPR 4,344.
