KATHMANDU, MAY 11

Minister for Finance Prakash Sharan Mahat has held discussions with international development partners regarding the upcoming budget of fiscal year 2023-24.

The discussion was attended by heads and representatives of multilateral development partners, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and International Finance Corporation, United States Agency for International Development, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, European Union, Germany and other bilateral development partner organisations.

On the occasion, Minister Mahat shared his views on the priorities and principles of the Nepal government for the coming days and the direction to be taken by the upcoming budget. He also expressed the commitment of the Nepal government to make maximum use of the available means and resources. Mentioning the increasing debt of the government of Nepal, he said that the government has prioritised investment in productive sectors that can assist in paying the interests of the loans taken and that the government of Nepal is very aware of the obligations that will arise in the future.

Meanwhile, the heads and representatives of international development partners assured to support and help the priorities and programmes taken by the Nepal government in the upcoming budget.

During the discussion, international development partners suggested to improve capital expenditure, public institution management, reduce duplication of expenditure, prepare improvement plans for internal resource mobilisation, and to flow public and private financial resources as national priority.

Similarly, the government has been suggested to increase investment in health, education, and social security, improve low capital expenditure and poor purchasing power, gradually change the informal sector to the formal sector and expand the scope of taxes, prioritise major reform agendas, increase coordination among the government bodies and agencies and fully utilise concessional loans.

Furthermore, Minister Mahat also requested the development partners to provide substantial subsidies along with foreign loans as Nepal is not the culprit behind climate change, adding that the foreign aid coming to this sector should also be mobilised as a subsidy.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 12, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.