Weekly Summary
Across the week, Nepal’s diplomacy and governance agenda moved from COP-31 priorities and planned political mobilization by KP Sharma Oli to escalating scrutiny over state accountability and judicial integrity involving Supreme Court communications tied to Inam Sapkota. Press freedom became the dominant flashpoint as Balen Shah ordered the release of detained journalists and stopped newsroom raids amid demands for halting journalist arrests raised by Gagan Kumar Thapa and Jagdish Kharel. Economically, the week highlighted worsening fiscal constraints after public debt crossed NPR 3 trillion alongside sectoral steps like electricity trading entry letters of intent tied to Electricity Act, 1992, while banking performance showed Nabil Bank profits rising 39%.
Forex remained relatively stable over the week: USD/NPR moved within 152.23-152.72 (0.32% net change), starting at NPR 152.72 on Oct 25 and ending at NPR 152.23 on Nov 01; other major pairs traded in narrow ranges (CAD 109.06-109.12, AUD 107.03-107.39, GBP 203.32-204.47, JPY 9.67-9.68). international gold closed near NPR 221,326 per tola; international silver closed near NPR 2,806.
