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| Kathmandu Monday March 18, 2002 Chaitra 05, 2058. |
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Inefficient
crisis mgmt prime cause of financial mess: Adhikari
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March
17:Former Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari today said that inefficient crisis
management by the government is the main reason for the current financial mess in the
country.
Addressing a press meet
organised by the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) CPN-UML on the
current economic and financial situation of the country, he said, "The government
could not introduce efficient measures to uplift the economy that has been hard hit since
the declaration of state of emergency."
There is a need for
strong policies to enhance good governance, speed up the implementation of projects,
control corruption and stem leakage, create employment opportunities and involve low level
people in national development, he said.
Referring to the
amendments made by the government to the financial Act for the current fiscal year by
bringing some changes in the tax structure and reduction of budgets for development
projects, Adhikari opined that such measures have affected the economy adversely.
Such a revision was
unnecessary since there were several other measures by which an equal amount of additional
revenue could have been collected. "We had even submitted the detailed measures to
raise fund without any burden to the general public and businessmen," he said.
He further said that
more than Rs 1.5 billion could have been saved from the general expenses and around Rs 4
billion from the management of duplicated projects. The size of the government has to be
reduced and should be made more accountable and result oriented to reduce the soaring
government expenditure.
Citing the latest
statistics made public by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) recently, Adhikari said that the
government has to formulate a two-phased policy to revive the down turning economy. In the
first phase it should announce interim measures to rehabilitate the economy with the
reduction in general expenses that are not urgent.
And then, a longer-term
strategy has to be adopted to uplift all sectors of the economy including foreign trade
and the tourism sector. "Economic concern is a serious matter and there must be a
consensus among all the major parties on preparing such policies," he added.
Dr Dilli Raj Khanal, a
CPN-UML lawmaker, during the programme said that rural and agricultural sector has been
much affected by the current crisis. Due to the reduction in the annual budget of the
Village Development Committees (VDCs), the development activities in the VDCs have almost
come to a halt, he said.
"The
government’s economic policy that has been tested since the past 12 years has failed
completely". As a testimony to it, Khanal said that the distribution of wealth among
the rich and the poor has widened significantly.
"More than 52 per
cent of the contribution to the national income is made by upper 10 per cent of the people
that holds greater amount of property, which was around 23 per cent some 25 years
ago," he said.
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