BRUSSLES: European Union nations on Thursday agreed on a sweeping policy to fight tax evasion after tiny Luxembourg dropped its reservations to new rules which render its secretive banking culture more transparent. Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel confirmed at Thursday’s summit of EU leaders ‘the willingness of the government to take that road’, a key step to scrap the banking secrecy for foreigners.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy said the move was ‘indispensable for enabling the member states to better clamp down on tax fraud and tax evasion’.
The legislation proposes an EU-wide automatic exchange of data on bank deposits to allow governments to identify and pursue tax evaders with foreign accounts on home soil. Van Rompuy said it would ‘close down loopholes, promote automatic information exchange to bring in transparency’.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was long seen as a paradise for tax
evasion because of slack regulation, lax taxes and its famed secrecy that drew everyone from Belgian dentists to international investors looking for ways to launder money.
Even with a population of about 500,000 citizens, Luxembourg turned into one of the wealthiest nations in the world because it could rely on a banking and financial industry which has more than three trillion euros ($4 trillion) in assets.
“We have reached a new stage on the exchange of information today,” Bettel said, reflecting on years of negotiations on making European banking more transparent and fraud-free.
“We talked about this for 15 years,” french president Francois Hollande said. “But in the end, all the EU nations will face the same rules ... and the impossibility to evade taxes.”
Luxembourg long resisted change because it wanted non-EU banking nations like Switzerland and Liechtenstein to also sign up.
“This is a clear message that Europe is fully committed to the new single global standard for automatic exchange of tax information,” Van Rompuy said.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy said the move was ‘indispensable for enabling the member states to better clamp down on tax fraud and tax evasion’.
The legislation proposes an EU-wide automatic exchange of data on bank deposits to allow governments to identify and pursue tax evaders with foreign accounts on home soil. Van Rompuy said it would ‘close down loopholes, promote automatic information exchange to bring in transparency’.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was long seen as a paradise for tax
evasion because of slack regulation, lax taxes and its famed secrecy that drew everyone from Belgian dentists to international investors looking for ways to launder money.
Even with a population of about 500,000 citizens, Luxembourg turned into one of the wealthiest nations in the world because it could rely on a banking and financial industry which has more than three trillion euros ($4 trillion) in assets.
“We have reached a new stage on the exchange of information today,” Bettel said, reflecting on years of negotiations on making European banking more transparent and fraud-free.
“We talked about this for 15 years,” french president Francois Hollande said. “But in the end, all the EU nations will face the same rules ... and the impossibility to evade taxes.”
Luxembourg long resisted change because it wanted non-EU banking nations like Switzerland and Liechtenstein to also sign up.
“This is a clear message that Europe is fully committed to the new single global standard for automatic exchange of tax information,” Van Rompuy said.
ATHMANDU: Nepal Bank Ltd (NBL) has announced ranges of interest rebate to encourage repayment of the old defaulted loans of up to Rs 2.5 million.
The borrowers that have borrowed up to Rs 2.5 million which was floated before mid-April 2002 can use this opportunity to clear their names from the bank’s defaulters.
According to NBL, the borrowers with principal amount less than Rs 100,000 can pay the outstanding principal and 20 per cent of the amount and clear their names. The range of additional amount to be paid is based on the amount of principal with highest being Rs 2.5 million, for which defaulters can pay up to double the outstanding amount, excluding the compounded interest.
The oldest bank in Nepal has been struggling with overwhelming numbers of bad loans since the past 15 years. Despite going through 10 years of Financial Sector Restructuring Programme that began in 2002, the bank’s non-performing loans are still 5.83 per cent of total loans.
“The bank has been announcing rebate on interests for the defaulted loans — especially small ones, which encourages more borrowers to repay the loans and clear their names,” pointed out coordinator of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) drafted management team Maheshwor Lal Shrestha.
“We had offered a similar rebate on such loans a few years earlier also and the response of such small defaulters was encouraging as our scheme allows them to pay less than the actual outstanding interest and principal that are accumulated in more than the last 10 years,” he added.
NRB, that is taking care of the bank’s management, will exit the bank only after it gets its capital adequacy
ratio (CAR) to the regulatory requirement of 10 per cent. NBL — that had CAR of 0.84 per cent till mid-January
— will need to sell assets worth Rs two billion to be reach competitive level.
“This rebate is valid till the end of the current fiscal year, and any loans that are not cleared after the deadline will be recovered by selling the assets pledged as collateral,” informed Shrestha.
This will allow the bank to write off those defaulted loans and clean its balance sheet.
A comprehensive audit on the bank discovered the bank was on the brink of insolvency due to a large number of willful defaulters in 1999, thus bringing about the restructuring programme. Back then, the amount of non-performing assets at the bank neared 40 per cent of total loans.
The borrowers that have borrowed up to Rs 2.5 million which was floated before mid-April 2002 can use this opportunity to clear their names from the bank’s defaulters.
According to NBL, the borrowers with principal amount less than Rs 100,000 can pay the outstanding principal and 20 per cent of the amount and clear their names. The range of additional amount to be paid is based on the amount of principal with highest being Rs 2.5 million, for which defaulters can pay up to double the outstanding amount, excluding the compounded interest.
The oldest bank in Nepal has been struggling with overwhelming numbers of bad loans since the past 15 years. Despite going through 10 years of Financial Sector Restructuring Programme that began in 2002, the bank’s non-performing loans are still 5.83 per cent of total loans.
“The bank has been announcing rebate on interests for the defaulted loans — especially small ones, which encourages more borrowers to repay the loans and clear their names,” pointed out coordinator of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) drafted management team Maheshwor Lal Shrestha.
“We had offered a similar rebate on such loans a few years earlier also and the response of such small defaulters was encouraging as our scheme allows them to pay less than the actual outstanding interest and principal that are accumulated in more than the last 10 years,” he added.
NRB, that is taking care of the bank’s management, will exit the bank only after it gets its capital adequacy
ratio (CAR) to the regulatory requirement of 10 per cent. NBL — that had CAR of 0.84 per cent till mid-January
— will need to sell assets worth Rs two billion to be reach competitive level.
“This rebate is valid till the end of the current fiscal year, and any loans that are not cleared after the deadline will be recovered by selling the assets pledged as collateral,” informed Shrestha.
This will allow the bank to write off those defaulted loans and clean its balance sheet.
A comprehensive audit on the bank discovered the bank was on the brink of insolvency due to a large number of willful defaulters in 1999, thus bringing about the restructuring programme. Back then, the amount of non-performing assets at the bank neared 40 per cent of total loans.
KATHMANDU: With an objective to attract foreign direct investment and inform investors about projects with investment potential in Nepal, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Nepal government are going to organise the Nepal Business Conclave (NBC) on March 23-24.
Although NBC is primarily being organised to promote Nepal as a prime investment destination in the international scenario, the two-day event is aimed at facilitating investors from Nepal as well.
“We are going to organise the programme for the overall development of the country,” said president of FNCCI Suraj Vaidya.
According to him, the Nepal government has identified 52 potential projects under ‘Nepal Investment Project Profile’ in which, the country is seeking investment of around Rs 215 billion. All these projects are categorised under seven
titles — 11 for infrastructure projects, 10 each for agriculture and hydro-power, eight for tourism, five for manufacturing, seven for services (education, health and transportation, among others ) and one for mines and minerals. All the projects included in ‘Nepal Investment Project Profile’ are ready for investment.
Vaidya assumes that the programme will attract 100 to 125 investors from different countries with at least six investors signing memorandum of understanding with Nepali investors regarding investment in various projects.
He further informed that the programme will have participation of at least 45 Malaysian, 33 Chinese, eight English and seven Canadian potential investors whereas more than 100 Nepalis have already registered their names for the participation in the programme.
The former prime minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was the pioneer of economic reformation in Malaysia will be the keynote speaker of the programme.
Although NBC is primarily being organised to promote Nepal as a prime investment destination in the international scenario, the two-day event is aimed at facilitating investors from Nepal as well.
“We are going to organise the programme for the overall development of the country,” said president of FNCCI Suraj Vaidya.
According to him, the Nepal government has identified 52 potential projects under ‘Nepal Investment Project Profile’ in which, the country is seeking investment of around Rs 215 billion. All these projects are categorised under seven
titles — 11 for infrastructure projects, 10 each for agriculture and hydro-power, eight for tourism, five for manufacturing, seven for services (education, health and transportation, among others ) and one for mines and minerals. All the projects included in ‘Nepal Investment Project Profile’ are ready for investment.
Vaidya assumes that the programme will attract 100 to 125 investors from different countries with at least six investors signing memorandum of understanding with Nepali investors regarding investment in various projects.
He further informed that the programme will have participation of at least 45 Malaysian, 33 Chinese, eight English and seven Canadian potential investors whereas more than 100 Nepalis have already registered their names for the participation in the programme.
The former prime minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was the pioneer of economic reformation in Malaysia will be the keynote speaker of the programme.
The government has decided to provide a loan worth Rs 2 billion to the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). But NOC officials have stated that the funds will not be able to provide smooth supply of fuel products during the Dashain festival. According to government officials, the Citizen Investment Trust (CIT) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will provide Rs 1 billion each to NOC against the government’s guarantee.
NOC had earlier sought Rs 4 billion finance fuel products. So far, CIT and EPF have already provided loans worth Rs 13 billion to NOC. The new loan will only be enough to finance fuel products until this month. NOC has not cleared Rs 1.5 billion in dues to the Indian Oil Corporation.
NOC currently faces a loss of Rs 1.6 billion per month. NOC’s outstanding debts stand at Rs 28.5 billion. NOC has been lobbying for the fuel prices to be in line with the international market prices to cut down its losses.
NOC had earlier sought Rs 4 billion finance fuel products. So far, CIT and EPF have already provided loans worth Rs 13 billion to NOC. The new loan will only be enough to finance fuel products until this month. NOC has not cleared Rs 1.5 billion in dues to the Indian Oil Corporation.
NOC currently faces a loss of Rs 1.6 billion per month. NOC’s outstanding debts stand at Rs 28.5 billion. NOC has been lobbying for the fuel prices to be in line with the international market prices to cut down its losses.
Livestock traders plan to sell 60,000 goats in the valley during Dashain festival. The state-owned Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) is planning to sell 4,000 goats from its outlets this year. Traders expect the demand for goat to increase as valley residents have been avoiding chicken due to recent bird flu outbreaks.
The Nepal Livestock Traders Association has reported that it will supply 50,000 goats and 5,000 mountain goats during the festival. India is the major supplier of goats in the country. More than 80% of goats are imported from India.
According to the association, domestic goats will be sold for Rs 370 to Rs 380 per kg whereas imported goats could cost Rs 400 per kg. Last year, live goats were sold at Rs 320 per kg before Dashain but prices increased by 20% during Dashain.
