Kathmandu, October 20:

Dev Gurung, central committee leader of CPN (Maoist) today disclosed that Maoists have an economic policy to nationalise properties of people who have acquired them through illegal means while in power.

There is a need to use the same for national economic development as the country is resource-strapped, added Gurung.

He was talking at a programme entitled ‘Economic Policies of Maoists and their strategy to make new Nepal’ organised by the Management Association of Nepal (MAN). He said that country’s resources have been captured by a handful of people, while most people have been left poor.

Gurung expressed the view that there is huge corruption in bureaucracy and wealth gained through illegal means would be confiscated for the larger good. Maoist party has a policy to effectively generate and strengthen national capital to become self-reliant, he said.

We should not depend all the times on foreign funds, as it will not be sustainable, said Gurung. In addition, while making budget, we should not look or replicate developed countries’ ‘principals and policies’, as we are very economically backward, he added.

Dr Bimal Prasad Koirala, chief of MAN (DDC), expressed the views that Nepal currently is at a critical situation, politically. Economy is greatly dependent on how politics take its turn, said Koirala.

Dr Shankar Sharma, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), admitted that developing exportable products, productivity enhancement, boosting priority sectors and looking for comparative advantageous sectors would be effective means to boost economy.

Maoist leader Gurung said that political parties of the country had no strong commitment and economic conditions could not be improved even after years of trial and error. This has increased the gap between the poor and rich widely, said Gurung.

He was of the view that of the total annual budget, 70 to 80 per cent has been wasted due to lack of monitoring, which needs to be corrected. Gurung also said that budgets have failed to address problems faced by the poor.

He underscored the need to change the economic models as the past did not yield fruits for the poor. There is an increased misuse of capacity by people; brain drain is increasing, and major economic sectors like the agriculture and industry are not being promoted in an effective way, said Gurung.

He stressed on giving space to foreign capitalists as well in today’s changing economic environment. However, while taking foreign loans, we should do our homework first with effective planning processes, said Gurung.