Kathmandu, June 3: Lawmaker Raghuji Panta has stressed on fiscal discipline to implement the budget.
Taking part in the general discussion on the annual estimation of revenue and expenditure for fiscal year 2024-25 in the House of Representative (HoR) today, UML leader Panta wondered what would be the next step to implement the budget, if the targeted revenue was not collected.
He argued that there were some contrary issues in the budget, saying budget allocation was decreasing in the agriculture sector but the Finance Minister has announced the agriculture promotion package in the budget.
Lawmaker Panta suggested the Finance Minister to be more practical in the budget implementation process.
Budget receives mixed reactions from lawmakers
Lawmakers have given mixed reactions over the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Taking part in general deliberations on the estimations of the government’s income and expenditure for the fiscal year 2081-82 BS (2024-25) in a meeting of the House of Representatives today, Ashok Kumar Chaudhary of Rastriya Swatantra Party said the budget is not realistic. Accusing the government of overlooking the sports sector in the budget speech, he demanded a substantive approach to promote the agricultural sector.
According to Sher Bahadur Kunwar of CPN (Unified Socialist), the budget, introduced amid an economic slowdown, is expected to encounter implementation challenges. “On one hand, the capital deficit persists, while on the other, the capital flight looms large. Our primary focus should be on managing the capital crisis.”
Gyan Bahadur Shahi of Rastriya Prajatantra Party said the budget is expected to focus more on job creation and the development of the agriculture sector.
He proposed to implement a separate fiscal year for the mountain region as only two months Baisakh (April-May) and Jeth (May-June) are favorable for undertaking development endeavors in the region.
