Govt to accomodate suggestions on budget

Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai today pledged to make changes in the government budget presented at the Legislature-Parliament, to incorporate constructive suggestions.

Furnishing clarifications in response to the queries raised by members during three days of deliberations, Minister Bhattarai said he has received very constructive suggestions from the lawmakers in the course of the budget deliberations.

"Even the CPN-UML, a major constituent in the ruling six-party alliance, has furnished written suggestions, which I want to incorporate into the budget to make it more comprehensive," he said, adding, "I seek permission from the House to incorporate the suggestions in the budget."

Referring to claims by opposition Nepali Congress members that the jumbo budget would lead to inflation, Bhattarai said it was the need of the hour to achieve high economic growth, reconstruct destroyed infrastructures and provide relief to the conflict victims.

"Though the implementation part seems to be very tough and challenging, we can meet the target through collective endeavours and a politics of consensus," he added.

He claimed that the government has sufficient basis for the control of price hikes and inflation through adoption of effective measures to increase revenue, production and supplies.

Expressing commitment to meeting the government's target of collecting 15 percent revenue, Bhattarai said, "The government is determined to control corruption and revenue leakages.

He said that the government wanted to promote a public-private partnership approach and attract national and international private investors to achieve rapid economic growth in the country.

In this regard the government would introduce special law for the financial sector in the near future, he added.

Defending the government's plan to set up a high-level economic council under the convenorship of the prime minister, the finance minister said this was meant not to control the line ministries and centralize power but to make the monitoring mechanism more effective.

Replying to queries about the heavy dependence on foreign aid, Bhattarai said that it was not a big target. "I have increased the figure for foreign loans by around Rs 8 billion from the Advance Budget presented by former [finance] minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat under which the expectation was to collect about Rs 57 billion."

When asked about the government's economic policy, Bhattarai replied that since the country was in a transitional phase, the Maoist-led coalition government's budget was based on capitalism heading toward socialism. Talking about the sluggish economic growth rate, Bhattarai said that the structural problem should be addressed to achieve the expected economic growth.

Referring to the existing VAT rate, he said that though the government wanted to adopt multiple tax rates, it could not incorporate this in the budget due to delayed submission of its report of the Revenue Advisory Committee.
Source:
Ekantipur