Kathmandu, July 2

The earlier ceiling of the budget for the next fiscal year set by the government is likely to exceed by around Rs. 13-15 billion as the government has further liabilities to allocate additional amounts.

The government had set a ceiling of Rs. 429 billion budget for the fiscal year 2069/70.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Janak Raj Shah, Member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), said that the budget ceiling may go up to around Rs. 442-445 billion owing to the additional liabilities on the part of the government.

"Earlier, we had a ceiling of the budget to around Rs. 429 billion. However, with the announcement of the elections and formation of new ministries, we have additional liabilities to increase the size of the budget," he said.

He said that the government would increase the budget taking into consideration the macro economic indicators of the country.

"Given the size of our domestic borrowing, foreign loan and assistance and the revenue mobilization record, we have our own resource limitations," he said clarifying that the ceiling would not cross Rs. 445 billion.

Asked about the major programmes and policies of the government in the next fiscal budget, Shah said that the government would speed up the work of the national pride projects by increasing their budget.

Besides, we have also giving maximum focus on the implementation of the budget, he said.

The government would increase the budget of the national pride projects such as Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track, Second International Airport of Nijgadh, Bara, Melamchi Drinking Water Project, Mid-hill Highway, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project, Sikta Irrigation Project, Rani Jamara Irrigation Project, Babahi Irrigation Project, Budhigandaki Hydropower Project, West Seti Hydropower Project, East-West Electric Train, Postal Highway, the river corridor of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali, among others.

Similarly, the government has accorded top priority to infrastructure development, tourism, agriculture, hydropower, among others.

"The government’s top priorities are peace, constitution, good governance and prosperity. As the constitution writing process has come to halt now, we have even more responsibilities to provide relief for the people by introducing programmes having direct impact on the people," he said.

Saying that the budget would accord due priority to employment generation, creation of investment climate for attracting and promoting the government, foreign and domestic investments.

Similarly, the government has thought of brining new programmes to encourage volunteerism, make the self-employment programme more effective and increase private investments.

Asked about the possibility of introducing completely new programmes and populist programmes targeting election as demanded by the opposition political parties, Shah said that the government would fully abide by the financial discipline and bring programmes to meet the goals set by the Three Year Plan.

He, however, said that as the budget was the government’s political document, there would be slight redesigning of the existing programmes.

He also suggested that the parties should not make the budget a bargaining tool and asked the government to work forge consensus with the political parties to bring the budget.