Budget focused on giving impetus to economy: Finance Minister Poudel

Kathmandu: The government has presented its budget (income and expenditure) estimates for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 in the parliament.

The government was expected to bring the budget with various reform plans to improve the overall economic situation of the country and achieve the expected pace of development. But an average and status quo budget was presented, which has raised questions about what role it can play in improving the economy. In this context, RSS correspondent Hemant Joshi talked to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

What are the focus and priorities of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, including the aspects of reforms?

A realistic and disciplined budget has been presented in terms of resource and expenditure management. We have emphasized the optimal use of resources and also tried to be realistic in terms of internal revenue and external debt mobilization. The allocation for capital expenditure has been increased while funds going to the provincial and local levels through financial transfers have been increased.

This budget has particularly emphasized on two to three things in the process of giving an impetus to the economy. It has set the path for favorable policy reforms for investment growth. It adopts a policy to attract domestic and foreign investment. It also set a favorable ground for production growth and job creation.

Experts have described this as an average budget, did you not try to intervene or were not able to do?
There is no question of blindly interfering in the name of reforms. The budget has already taken the necessary steps to determine and adopt the right policy. Various policy reforms have been made.

A policy of using alternative development finance has been adopted. Improvements have been made in project management and procurement processes. Instead of waiting for the next fiscal year, we have made arrangements to start the procurement process from Jestha 16. We expect the policy of austerity and spending cuts to balance current expenditure.

In terms of taxes, many suggestions were received about the kind of revenue policy to be adopted and we listened to all of them. But I think that the decision that has been made now regarding taxes has increased the trust of taxpayers over the state.

What kind of political pressure did you face during preparation of this budget? Is your budget politically biased?

All the comments and feedback on the budget are welcome. While preparing the budget, my focus was on making the budget realistic and disciplined. Budget preparation is not a matter of pressure but something that is done based on justification. I did not feel any kind of pressure.

However, the budget cannot be separated from politics out rightly. The government’s policies and programs should be followed and the budget is based accordingly. Therefore, one cannot say that it is a completely technical manner away from politics. But this budget has come within the limits of the fundamentals norms of a budget.

The private sector seems excited over the budget but there are concerns that the general public was not given due consideration…

We were in a situation where we had to prioritize the needs of the nation more than that of its people. The budget has been introduced keeping this in mind. We were guided more by the need to increase production and productivity, adding impetus to the economy, increasing the economic growth rate and making it sustainable than going for cheap popularity.

The budget ensures that economic activities will expand, private sector investment will increase, employment opportunities will rise and infrastructure projects will be completed on time. I am also optimistic that the targeted economic growth will be achieved through this budget.

How is the prioritization and selection of projects different from previous years?

We have always been mindful of the fact that the federal government should present plans and programs that should be approved by the federal parliament. The budget was prepared with a focus on important federal responsibilities. Furthermore, the functions of the provinces and local levels do not fall within the scope of the federal government’s budget.

Hence, federal projects costing less than Rs. 30 million were not included in the budget. The message we have put out is that not only the federal government but the provinces and local levels should also come up with a balanced budget.

Furthermore, implementing of the budget should begin immediately. In fact, we should start implementing the budget from today itself. Accordingly, we will immediately proceed with projects the contracts of which can be handed out within the current fiscal year.