Govt to bring budget of more than Rs 400b
KATHMANDU, APR 07
The government is preparing to introduce the budget for the current fiscal year of more than Rs 400 billion this week.
As the existing budget ary mechanism, which bars the government from spending more than last fiscal year’s expenditure of last fiscal year, resulted in resources crunch for many development and administrative activities, the government is going for a full budget for this fiscal year too.
Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Koirala said in Biratnagar on Saturday that the budget will be introduced within the next three days. The size of the upcoming budget will be Rs 50-51 billion more than the existing budget , he said while inaugurating 59th annual general meeting of Morang Merchant Association. The existing budget is of Rs 351 billion.
Finance Ministry officials confirmed that preparations were underway to introduce the budget of Rs 400-405 billion — the size recommended by the resource committee headed by National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-chairman Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry. “Additional amount was added to the current budget ’s size as per the recommendation of the resource committee,” said Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi.
The resource committee had earlier recommended introducing budget of Rs 429 billion for this fiscal year, but the budget could not be brought due to the lack of political consensus.
Kshetry said the resource committee recommended the size so that the next fiscal’s budget size would not be influenced by the size of this fiscal year. The NPC has already fixed the ceiling for the next fiscal year’s budget at Rs 506 billion.
The Finance Ministry had long been complaining that the existing budget ary mechanism would be inadequate to meet increased expenditure, salary of government employees, other administrative jobs and development projects.
The government had not allocated adequate budget to the election commission to hold the election, although a bulk budget was created for various components, including election.
The finance ministry has planned to allocate Rs 8 billion for election. It also plans to allot an additional Rs 30 billion for recurrent heading, while ongoing development projects are expected to get additional Rs 7 billion.
The amount will be spent for development projects like Ranijamara, Shikta, Mid-Hill Highway and postal road, among others that are performing well.
The finance minister also said the budget for this fiscal year will prioritise sectors that need budget urgently. “Election and its security is the No 1 priority because it is for what this government was formed,” said Koirala.
He urged industrialists and traders not to have high expectations from the new budget . “This budget cannot solve your problems, but the budget for the next fiscal year will address your issues,” he told the business community.
The government is also allocating budget to pay membership fees to international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, SARRC Development Fund. Nepal will have to pay Rs 11 billion for the increased quota to the IMF, but the government plans to allocate Rs 3 billion for the purpose this year.
Finance ministry officials said there will not be resource crunch despite the rise in the size of the budget as the revenue growth is satisfactory and foreign aid commitments are encouraging.
Source: ekantipur
The government is preparing to introduce the budget for the current fiscal year of more than Rs 400 billion this week.
As the existing budget ary mechanism, which bars the government from spending more than last fiscal year’s expenditure of last fiscal year, resulted in resources crunch for many development and administrative activities, the government is going for a full budget for this fiscal year too.
Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Koirala said in Biratnagar on Saturday that the budget will be introduced within the next three days. The size of the upcoming budget will be Rs 50-51 billion more than the existing budget , he said while inaugurating 59th annual general meeting of Morang Merchant Association. The existing budget is of Rs 351 billion.
Finance Ministry officials confirmed that preparations were underway to introduce the budget of Rs 400-405 billion — the size recommended by the resource committee headed by National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-chairman Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry. “Additional amount was added to the current budget ’s size as per the recommendation of the resource committee,” said Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi.
The resource committee had earlier recommended introducing budget of Rs 429 billion for this fiscal year, but the budget could not be brought due to the lack of political consensus.
Kshetry said the resource committee recommended the size so that the next fiscal’s budget size would not be influenced by the size of this fiscal year. The NPC has already fixed the ceiling for the next fiscal year’s budget at Rs 506 billion.
The Finance Ministry had long been complaining that the existing budget ary mechanism would be inadequate to meet increased expenditure, salary of government employees, other administrative jobs and development projects.
The government had not allocated adequate budget to the election commission to hold the election, although a bulk budget was created for various components, including election.
The finance ministry has planned to allocate Rs 8 billion for election. It also plans to allot an additional Rs 30 billion for recurrent heading, while ongoing development projects are expected to get additional Rs 7 billion.
The amount will be spent for development projects like Ranijamara, Shikta, Mid-Hill Highway and postal road, among others that are performing well.
The finance minister also said the budget for this fiscal year will prioritise sectors that need budget urgently. “Election and its security is the No 1 priority because it is for what this government was formed,” said Koirala.
He urged industrialists and traders not to have high expectations from the new budget . “This budget cannot solve your problems, but the budget for the next fiscal year will address your issues,” he told the business community.
The government is also allocating budget to pay membership fees to international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, SARRC Development Fund. Nepal will have to pay Rs 11 billion for the increased quota to the IMF, but the government plans to allocate Rs 3 billion for the purpose this year.
Finance ministry officials said there will not be resource crunch despite the rise in the size of the budget as the revenue growth is satisfactory and foreign aid commitments are encouraging.
Source: ekantipur
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