Chitwan, May 29

Industrialists and businesspersons in Chitwan have welcomed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, calling it liberal. They have, however, expressed their concern about its implementation.

Commenting on the budget, Tilachandra Bhattarai, executive committee member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the budget as a whole is good. “The budget has focused on infrastructure and has a target of 8.5 per cent growth, which is encouraging,” he said.

“The provision in the budget that aims to double the production of fruits and provide subsidy in seeds will increase agriculture production. Besides, the different approach proposed for the import of final commodity and raw materials will have a positive impact on the production sector,” Bhattarai said.

FNCCI Province-3 Vice-chairperson and former chairperson of Chitwan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rajan Gautam, mentioned that the attempts made in the budget to support domestic industry and products will help reduce the country’s trade deficit.

“While it’s positive for the budget to address the agriculture sector, what I feel lacking is its failure to create a mechanism to take social security programmes to the target population,” he said. “Again, it would be better if the budget had come up with a policy to convert remittance into capital,” he added.