By Our Reporter
The budget presented by Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun on May 28 has drawn criticism not only from the opposition parties but also from the ruling parties.
The CPN (UML) leaders and the CPN (Unified Socialist) chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal have said that the budget was prepared without consulting them. Leaders of these two ruling parties have expressed their dissatisfaction not only in the House but also during meetings with senior leaders. Bishnu Paudel and Raghuji Panta of UML said that the revenue target could not be met. Paudel accused the Finance Minister of not consulting with the UML while preparing the budget. Even the leaders of the Rastriya Swatantra Party have informally objected to the budget stating that many development projects and even the Ministry of Women were allotted a very small budget.
As the main, opposition, the Nepali Congress has criticised the budget terming it distributive.
Likewise, the Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) has presented dissatisfaction over the budget stating that it had remained silent about the development and promotion of small industries.
President of FNCSI Umesh Prasad Singh said that as the budget was silent about the subsidised loans and refinance given by the government in the past, in order to continue this, it should be arranged through the upcoming monetary policy.
The suggestions made by the FNCSI for the establishment of an international-level export house for market promotion of domestic products produced by micro, cottage, small and women entrepreneurs across the country are not included in the budget, it said.
However, the FNCSI has welcomed the idea of conducting a partnership programme for production and employment in order to link production with employment to increase import substitution and export in partnership with the federal, province, and local levels and cooperatives, including the private sector.
The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) have welcomed the government’s commitment to form a commission for a new stage of reform.
It has also hailed the budget for including the start-up policy included in it.
However, both the politicians and business communities have termed the revenue collection target as ambitious. When the government has miserably failed to collect the targeted revenue of the past year, it has further increased it in the new budget.
The government has targeted the revenue collection of Rs. 1.26 trillion for the FY 2024/25—an increase of Rs. 12 billion from the target set in FY 2023/24. Similarly, the government has set a target of foreign grants of Rs. 52.33 billion, and external debt of NPR 217.67 billion. The revenue collection target of Rs. 12.60 billion looks challenging, given the current circumstances. As of Tuesday, the government has collected only 61 per cent of the revenue target.
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