Kathmandu, June 3

Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has said that the government presented the budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 without breaching any fiscal discipline.

Responding to queries raised by lawmakers participating in the discussion on annual estimate of revenue and expenditure for fiscal year 2016-17, Finance Minister Paudel said that the government presented the big-size budget to expedite the development activities.

He claimed that the budget was presented after holding discussions with experts and on the basis of the ceiling fixed by the National Planning Commission.

The finance minister assured that the government would not allow budget crunch to hinder the construction of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project so that load shedding can be ended within the next two years. He further claimed that the sphere of tax has been expanded to improve the environment of investment and to minimise the chances of the market being flushed with excess liquidity.

Finance Minister Paudel further said the government has allocated Rs nine billion for 18 districts of Tarai, while allocating sufficient budget for construction of Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast-track road, agriculture industry, modernisation of agriculture, development of hydropower and agriculture cooperative sectors.

The budget has provisioned allocation of needful resources and programmes with a goal of achieving 6.5 per cent economic growth, he argued.

Moreover, Minister Paudel explained that more funds have been allocated for the education, health, fuel and agriculture sectors and for local level compared to the current fiscal year.

The upcoming budget of Rs 1.048 trillion features key infrastructure projects as well as development programmes for a balanced development of hilly, mountain and tarai regions, Paudel added.

He shared that the budget has also envisioned increasing revenue through administrative reforms, control of revenue leakage, tax concession system and efforts to achieve 23 per cent of increment in revenue collection. He also assured that the budget has introduced the provision of collecting internal debt without adversely affecting the private sector.

Establishment of Khwopa University, extension of beds in Hetauda Hospital to up to 50 have also been incorporated in the budget unveiled on May 28.

Minister Paudel had answered the queries on budget estimates put forth by Parliamentarians such as Anuradha Thapa Magar, Surendra Pandey, Manmohan Bhattarai, Sita Nepali, Nabindra Raj Joshi, Rameshower Phuyal and Romi Gauchan Thakali, among others.

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