Kathmandu, July 1
Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has assured the private sector that the government was working towards bringing in a full-fledged budget on time forging consensus among the political parties.
Speaking at a pre-budget interaction organised by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) at the ministry today, Finance Minister Pun said that the budget would focus on building a more investment and business-friendly environment in the country.
"The government is working to bring in a full-fledged budget on time forging consensus among the major political parties, which will help promote the investment climate in the country," Pun said.
Stating that the new budget would focus on the priority sectors such as hydropower, tourism and agriculture, Pun also ruled out the possibility of new budget being distributive.
"The expenditures of the government are almost set. We have to spend more than half of the total budget in recurrent expenditure, in paying interest and priority projects," he said, "Therefore, we have less chances of manipulating the budget."
Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota tried to calm the entrepreneurs by saying that the government was not focusing only on revenue generating mission.
"If we looked at the scenario of other countries as well, there is around 20 per cent contribution of the revenue to the total gross domestic products (GDP). Compared to this, we have just reached around 15 per cent now," he said that the government aimed at increasing the revenue contribution to 20 per cent so that the country could be more self-reliant.
Meanwhile, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) on Sunday asked the government and the political parties to take the economic agenda and political agenda hand in hand.
Speaking at an interaction organised by the Society of Economic Journalists Nepal (SEJON) in the Capital today, President Vaidya said that the parties should give up politicking development issues.
Saying that there would be a lot of financial problems in the country if the government failed to bring in a full-fledged budget on time after forging political consensus, he urged that the government should bring in a full-fledged budget on time.
"We are not biased or guided by anyone. The budget has direct impact on the national economic development," Vaidya said adding, "We have been raising this issue for the last few years that we are in favour of common economic agendas among the major political parties.
He also urged the political parties not to hamper the economic development process in the name of politics.
On the occasion, Vaidya suggested that the government should bring in development focused budget.
"We have competition on generating revenue. Rather, there should be focused on development and creating jobs," he said.
He asked the government to focus on infrastructure development, hydropower generation, commercialisation and industrialisation of agriculture and tourism.
Expressing doubts over the rising differences among the political parties, Suresh Basnet, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), said that the private sector had found not the leaders being serious about the economic agendas.
He called for creating an investment climate through forging consensus among the parties.
Narendra Basnyat, Acting President of the CNI, suggested that the government should present an investment-friendly budget for the next fiscal year.
