Kathmandu. The Ministry of Finance has requested not to come for meetings unless it is essential as the work of writing the budget draft for the next financial year 081/82 has started. The ministry has informed that some changes have been made in the format of the meeting as all the employees including the minister should focus on budget preparation.
Finance Minister Varshman Pun Ananth formed a budget drafting committee under the leadership of Joint Secretary Dhaniram Sharma on Friday. Joint secretaries Ritesh Kumar Shakya, Mahesh Acharya, Ram Prasad Acharya, Ishwari Aryal and Parvati Sharma are members of the committee. The day after the committee was formed, on Saturday, the work of writing the budget has already started with the necessary instructions from the Minister of Finance.
Spokesperson and joint secretary of the ministry, Uttar Kumar Khatri, asked the stakeholders related to the budget preparation to come with time in advance. During budget preparation, employees have to work from morning till late at night. Work is affected when there is unnecessary crowding,” said Khatri, ‘but not all meetings have been stopped. I would like to ask the stakeholders who have to meet to come with time in advance.’
Khatri said that he would not come to meet the relevant ministries and important government agencies, representatives of the private sector, and representatives of donor agencies. Clarifying that in a democracy, all government bodies are open to the public, Khatri said that the ministry apologized for the impact of changing the form of meeting during the budget preparation period due to the pressure and sensitivity of the work. Khatri clarified that in the past too, this practice was done during budget preparation.
In the Constitution of Nepal issued in 2007, there is a binding provision that every year on the 15th of June, after the Republic Day, the Minister of Finance presents the budget for the next financial year to the Federal Parliament. The government has already submitted the principles and priorities of this year’s budget to the parliament by changing the schedule of budget creation.
The then finance minister Prakash Sharan Mahat presented the principles and priorities of the appropriation bill for the financial year 081/82 presented in the House of Representatives and the National Assembly on February 14. Both Houses have already passed the principles and priorities of the budget, with the current Finance Minister Barshman Pun answering the questions raised by the MPs in the same proposal.
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