Around a week ago the border between Nepal and India was opened! (See our October 27, 2015 blog). For 4 long months essential commodities were kept from Nepal due to the embargo. For 4 months the Nepalese people have endured exorbitant prices and/or lack of food, medicine, petrol, cooking gas (propane) and other items. Just 2 hours ago I witnessed many people queued up to fill their propane tanks. People here do not have electric or gas ranges, instead they use portable single or double propane-operated burners similar to a Coleman camping stove. Families and restaurants had resorted to cooking over an open wood fire.
Yesterday I saw hundreds of cars lined up for petrol. I am told that India is only supplying about 70% of what the country needs so people patiently wait 1 or 2 days and hope there is still petrol by the time they make it to the pump. The current price is about $4 per gallon but just a week ago the price was 3 or 4 times higher! The only available fuel was distributed via the ‘black market’.
There is much relief because trucks are again hauling goods from India into Nepal. Food prices have not decreased but people hope they will. The consensus is that things will settle down in a few months, prices will stabilize, but most doubt that prices decline much.