Kathmandu. National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-Chairman Dr Shivaraj Adhikari has said that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year is a tool to restructure the economy.
Economic Media Society (IMSON) fiscal year 2082. Speaking at a programme organised here today to discuss the budget of Rs 83, Vice-Chairman Adhikari claimed that although it was natural to have a budget of at least Rs 2 trillion to Rs 2.4 trillion compared to the current fiscal year, a budget of less size was brought while preparing a realistic budget. “We had thousands of projects and a study was carried out from a ministerial point of view as well, it was seen that it took only 60 years to complete one project while making the popular budget,” he said. ’
Stating that the implementation of the budget will always be challenging, Adhikari said that cooperation from all sides would be required in the implementation. He also pledged to work honestly for the implementation of the budget.
Stating that the budget has set a target of 6 percent economic growth, Vice-Chairman Adhikari opined that the target would be fulfilled if the budget was implemented. “Although we had a project bank, we were in a shambles and we made arrangements that projects worth less than Rs 30 million could not be kept in the bank,” he said.
The decision has also greatly helped in budget preparation and keeping a threshold in the project bank has benefited the economy, he said. “Some ministers had also expressed dissatisfaction over the project, but we were able to keep a threshold in the project bank,” he said.
Vice-Chairman Adhikari said that the new system has been implemented by removing the previous provision regarding supplementary budget. “The new criteria for distribution of supplementary grants has been formulated on the basis of 20 indices to end the situation where no local level can deposit money and some local levels do not need budget,” he said.
According to adhikari, the demand for the project from the local level has increased due to this arrangement. “The new criteria set by us have made the implementation of federalism easier and the number of local levels demanding projects has increased,” he said. ’
Vice-chairman Adhikari also said that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has been made agriculture and youth friendly. “The budget has tried to address the agriculture sector, youth manpower and private sector by giving priority,” he said, adding that the contribution of the private sector in building the country’s economy has been recognised. ’
