Budget for 2005-06 being presented today
Finance Minister Madhukar Shumsher JB Rana is to present annual estimates of income and expenditure for the fiscal year 2005-06 in Kathmandu on Saturday.
New Nepali fiscal year (2062-63 B. S.) begins from Saturday (the 1st of Srawan) according to Nepali calendar.
Since there is no functioning parliament for the last three years, the minister will be presenting the budget speech in the presence of senior government officials and media personnel.
The speech will be carried live over the state-run Radio Nepal and Nepal Television from 3:30 p. m. on Saturday.
Meanwhile, newspaper reports have quoted sources as saying that the security expenses are likely to soar in the forthcoming budget too.
Friday’s Kantipur daily quoted top government officials as saying that security expenditure in the upcoming budget will touch Rs 19 billion. The budget for the Royal Nepalese Army will go up by over 30 percent while the budget for the Royal Palace will increase by 12 percent.
Total outlay of the budget will be around Rs 126 billion, the newspaper report said.
Meanwhile, members of the National Assembly—the upper house of the parliament—have said they will not take part in the function organised to announce the budget estimates on Saturday.
At a time when the House of Representatives remains dissolved, Minister Rana should have presented budget in the upper house, they said.
A member of the National Assembly and senior advocate, Radheshyam Adhikari, said it was the duty of the upper house to discuss and endorse the annual budget speech (when there is no lower house). “There is no question of visiting out of parliament to listen to the budget speech. The government could do it simply by publishing in official gazette,” he added.
Lawyers have even questioned the government’s authority to levy taxes through ordinances for long. “No taxation without representation,” they said.
Nepal doesn’t have an elected government for the last three years. nepalnews.com by July 16 05
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