Itahari, June 16

The government of Province 1 has brought the budget for fiscal year 2021-22.

Economic Affairs and Planning Minister Tanka Angbohang presented a budget of Rs 32,469,200,000 at the Provincial Assembly in Biratnagar this afternoon.

The budget includes 46.3 per cent of capital expenditure and 43.6 per cent of current expenditure.

Optimistic growth of 3.6 per cent is projected for the fiscal year of 2021-22.

This budget is less than around Rs eight billion compared to the fiscal budget of the year 2020-21. Previous budget amounted Rs 40,899,947,000.

The budget had projected to achieve 3.41 per cent economic growth rate which the government failed to achieve.

The budget has mainly prioritised infrastructure and health sectors. For infrastructure such as roads, bridges and the likes, Rs 13, 210,000,000 has been allocated.

All provincial pride projects are included under this title.

When it comes to health, the government has accorded second top priority after infrastructural spending which amounts Rs 3,250,000,000.

Presenting the budget, Minister Angbohang said budget had been allocated to vaccinate all the citizens of the province.

A 400-bed hospital at Mechi Hospital of Jhapa and 100-bed hospital each in Panchthar and Dhankuta are another health priorities of the budget. Programmes to encourage and empower health professionals will be included in the health budget, assured Minister Angbohang while presenting his budget speech which is the fourth budgetary allocation of Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai-led Provincial Government. Construction of ICUs, CCUs and oxygen plants at hospitals are other priorities of the budget in the health sector.

The third prioritised sector of the budget is agriculture with Rs 2,900,000,000 budget.

For forest and environment sector, Rs 1,360,000,000 budget has been allocated. Likewise, for education sector, the allocated budget is Rs 1,190,000,000.

Sectors such as tourism, trade and commerce, sports and the likes have got less than Rs 1 billion each.

Delivering his budget speech, Minister Angbohang assured that the budget would be strictly implemented.

Optimistic growth of 3.6 per cent is projected for the fiscal year 2021-22

A version of this article appears in the print on June 17, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.