Kathmandu, May 6: Former finance minister and chief of the CPN-UML Central Planning and Follow-up Department Bharat Mohan Adhikari has said indications of the economy being improved have become a far-off thing in the present context.

Mr Adhikari made this remark at a press meet organised by the department here recently with a view to disclosing the party’s views on the present economic situation of the country, the recent meeting of Nepal Development Forum held in Paris and the next budget.

His party is fully opposed to the improvement agenda brought about by the government with a view to mitigating poverty without consulting any responsible political parties or concerned bodies and this is bound to further deepen the economic crisis in the country, he added.

A press release circulated on the occasion states that experiences of the past decade in terms of the economy should be taken as a basis for the next annual budget, investment increased in agriculture, irrigation and works of local development, programmes worked out to create jobs and increase productivity and the drive for industrialisation should be given priority.

A policy aimed at streamlining the banking and fiscal sector should be framed so that it can prop up trade, agriculture and irrigation, dependency on foreign aid decreased, the next budget should be such that it should be able to remove the existing anomalies and clear and concrete programmes should be brought for uplifting the neglected communities.