Weekly Summary
Over the week, Nepal’s early political and governance agenda centered on Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s one-month leadership and on constitutional questions raised by the government’s use of ordinances while Parliament was suspended. Policy and economic developments included publication of Nepal's Current Economic Situation Report 2083, an ADB $40 million concessional loan for digital transformation, and steps to increase transparency such as preparing ambassador appointments through open competition. Public administration and rights issues included the property investigation commission mandate advancing, ongoing disaster impacts from floods blocking the BP Highway and triggering repairs, and judicial limits on police powers in Supreme Court directives against confiscating drivers’ license, blue book, and keys.
Forex remained relatively stable over the week: USD/NPR moved within 151.01-152.16 (0.70% net change), starting at NPR 151.10 on Apr 26 and ending at NPR 152.16 on May 03; other major pairs traded in narrow ranges (CAD 110.55-112.18, AUD 108.08-109.52, GBP 204.36-207.21, JPY 9.48-9.72). Local fine gold showed a downtrend of NPR -5,400 per tola, ending at NPR 295,100; international gold closed near NPR 263,461 per tola; local silver remained downtrend around NPR 5,010; international silver closed near NPR 4,306.
