Kathmandu, May 8: Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya has said that all the challenges of the national economy will be examined seriously and presented in the forthcoming budget.
Talking to rss at his residence today, Minister Acharya said the Finance Ministry is working on the budget of the next fiscal year to be presented to the parliament in the second week of Jeth, 2057 B.S.
Mr. Acharya said that the new budget will remain fully committed to implementing the massive economic, institutional and policy reform programme announced by the present government with the objective increasing the economic growth rate, enhancing the development momentum and improving the overall economy of the country.
The work of improving the law and order situation in the country and providing the people the sense of security has been placed by the government in the top priority list, he added.
In reply to a query, the Finance Minister said the new budget will give top priority to poverty alleviation programme inorder to move the people towards prosperity.
The main development challenges of the country will be indentified, he said adding that the new budget will present the strategies to be adopted in this connection.
Stating that corruption control, improvement of local governance, administrative reforms, good governance and decentralisation programmes will be made more effective, Mr. Acharya said that priority will be given to extending the fruits of development to the people.
Mr. Acharya said the government is equally sensitive about developing reliable infrastructures for development of the country by making the development process more dynamic and sustainable and strengthening the economy.
In reply to another query, the Finance Minister said the present government is sensitive about enhancing social unification and providing economic justice through development of the remote areas, women empowerment, social and economic welfare of the backward communities and development of civic society.
To question concerning privatisation, he said government role alone should not be made crucial for economic development efforts, rather attention should be paid to effectively mobilising the private sector, economic liberalisation process and direct foreign investment as the main agents of development.
The Finance Minister also expressed his commitment to enhance government’s role in revenue mobilisation, management of expenditures, fiscal reform, social and economic development and the overall fiscal management.
The government will pay equal attention to financial sector reform so as to ensure a vibrant and competitive fiscal sector in the country.
The forthcoming budget will aim at investment promotion, increasing investment in social service sector and bringing the regions and communities lagging behind due to unbalanced development to the development mainstream, he said.