Delay in passage of the government’s budget during the past few years has had a telling effect on the economy. As the government prepares its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, The Corporate talked to to representatives of the private sector and the government about it. Excerpts:

Dr Jagdish Chandra Pokharel
Former Chairman
National Planning Commission

The government should introduce a budget that helps in increasing the capital expenditure. The capital expenditure should be stimulated in a proper manner. Another important thing is that the new budget should not be distributive like the previous ones. The growth rate should be fixed in a pragmatic way. Earlier governments had fixed the rate just to garner the popularity of general public. Similarly, government should ensure the social security schemes if possible. Inflation is pretty high these days. So the government should bring the budget that can control the inflation.

Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar
Senior Vice-president
Federation of Nepalese
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI)

The very first thing is that we need a full-fledged budget and that needs to be passed on time. Delays in the passage of the budget in the past few years have affected many areas of the economy. The upcoming budget should be a private sector-driven one. A large portion of the budget pie should be allocated for development activities. Similarly, the budget should give due consideration to issues related to unemployment, safe employment and labour problems.

Megh Nath Neupane
Director General
Confederation of Nepalese Industries

The most important thing for now is that the government is bringing out a full- fledged budget. Government should identify the areas where the budget can be spent with expected outcomes. Till now, budget has mostly been of politics-oriented type. The new budget should be completely development-oriented which could help conduct the developmental activities smoothly. The trade deficit of the country is quite high for now and considering this issue, government should bring the budget that should be export -oriented. If government could not bring such budget, then at least the budget should include some import substitution measures. This will help to balance the economy.