HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Govt firm to implement policy, programmes of budget

Kathmandu, Sept. 23 (RSS): Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat assured the House of Representatives today that His Majesty’s Government will make every effort for the successful implementation of government policy and programmes as mentioned in the budget statement.

Finance Minister Dr Mahat, who was furnishing replies to questions raised in course of discussions on appropriations head pertaining to the Ministry of Finance at the Lower House of Parliament, described poverty alleviation as the overriding goal of this fiscal year’s budget and said that all economic and social activity will be carried out bearing this goal in mind.

The budget has emphasised the commercialisation of the agricultural and forest sectors, promotion of investment in industry and the service sector, export promotion and implementation of various programmes for the promotion of information technology, he said adding, successful implementation of these programmes would help generate more employment opportunities and contribute substantially to poverty alleviation.

He also informed Parliament about the arrangements being made to provide concessional loans through banks and other financial institutions for launching various programmes aimed at commercializing agriculture and improving the living conditions of the poor.

Stating that institutional development of the poverty alleviation fund and implementation of various programmes through employment promotion commissions are some of the important initiatives towards this end, the Finance Minister said as per the government policy of developing information technology as a major sector for employment, programmes have been formulated to train 50,000 youths in different aspects of information technology within three years.

Likewise, arrangements have been advanced to select and implement development projects which contribute significantly to poverty alleviation, development of infrastructures and socio-economic development, he said.

Responding to MPs’ displeasure over the government plan to run some of the financial institutions on contract, Minister Dr Mahat said as managerial weaknesses especially at two commercial banks run in the government sector have resulted in very low loan recovery, increased incidence of bad loans and fiscal indiscipline thereby making it difficult for the banks to even protect the capital of small depositors and posing a danger of the collapse of the entire banking system, the government is considering giving out the management of these two banks on contract for some time as part of its financial reform measures.

He also informed the House about the deteriorating condition of many corporations whose total loss is estimated at about Rs. 740 million and spoke of various contributing factors including managerial inefficiency, irrational increase in employee salaries and perks, deteriorating quality of service and lack of competitiveness.

Pursuant to the policy of encouraging private sector involvement in industry, trade and other commercial sectors with minimum possible government intervention, only the corporations recommended by experts concerned and the privatisation committee have been privatised after fulfilling the procedures specified by the committee, he said.

Reform measures are already underway to make revenue administration more practical, tax payer-oriented and simple, bring all economic activities within the tax net, expand the tax base, and rectify the weaknesses in VAT and make it a major source of internal revenue, Finance Minister Dr Mahat said.

He also informed the House about the measures being taken by the government for reforms in financial administration.

MPs Bhadra Bahadur Thapa, Ram Kumar Chaudhari, Netra Lal Shrestha, Urmila Aryal and Dilli Raj Khanal sought clarifications from Finance Minister Dr Mahat.

The House of Representatives meets again at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Other Stories