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Kathmandu Thursday February 15, 2001 Falgun 04, 2057.
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FM
stresses on curtailing public expenses
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - Finance Minister Ram
Sharan Mahat has stressed on curtailing public expenditures to attain self-sustainability,
as revenue generation is low compared to the public expenses.
Minister Mahat said this while speaking at a
seminar on Public Expenditures Management Reform organized by the Finance Ministry, the
National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Commission for Public Expenditure Review here
Tuesday.
Attributing the inconsequential return from
the investments made by the nation in various develpment projects to low revenue
generation, the newly appointed Finance Minister said that both national capital and
investments are on the wane.
On the pressures exerted by political
leaders, the number of projects in which the nation has to invest has been rising but if
investments should be made only in those projects that are short-term and give utmost
social benefit, he warned.
He also said that the internal security
expense is high compared to other countries like ours and it is very difficult to adopt
alternative measures to reduce the expense, he said.
Vice-President of NPC Prithvi Raj Ligal said
that it is imperative to increase resources and means to meet the soaring public
expenditure, emphasizing on the need to evaluate whether the general public have been
benefitted from the budget allocated for public expenditure.
He claimed that if the number of projects are
brought down, it will not only ease the government to invest in such projects but also
yield better results, adding that instead of depending solely on the government, other
sectors should also shoulder some responsibility.
Dr Shankar Sharma, Member of NPC, said the
goal of poverty alleviation and economic growth can only be achieved, if we can cut the
ever-increasing public expenditure.
Owing to a lack of necessary budget,
government projects take up to 14 years to complete, and the projects in which the nation
has to invest, are outgrowing the number of donor-funded projects, Sharma said.
If we can complete projects in short period,
they will give quick returns, which can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation,
he added.
Finance Secretary, Dr Bimal Koirala expressed
the views that if public expenditure cannot be curtailed and made just distribution therby
raising revenue, poverty reduction cannot be realized.
He said that the nation has to pay salary to
350 thousand employees and the money needed for pension has increased the public
expenditure. This needs to be managed in time, he said. He also suggested to have a public
discussion to reduce regular expenditure, which is ever-rising.
Koirala suggested to prepare budget in a new
way and to make investments studying the results of projects.
Chairman of the Commission for Public
Expenditure Review, MP Binaya Dhoj Chand said that they have been working with an
objective of making the public expense benefit the general public.
Rameshowar Prasad Khanal, member of the
commission said that in the preliminary report of the Commission on reducing public
expense, measures like reducing the number of government offices, organizational
restructuring and ways of achieving higher returns from the existing resources and means.
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