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Budget: Ministry has options open
KATHMANDU, JUL 01 -
The Finance Ministry has kept both options—presenting the regular budget or presenting an advance one — ready following the resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey and officials of the ministry discussed both the options on Thursday, according to officials at the ministry.
“It does not take much time to make a final preparation for an advance budget,” Rameshwor Khanal, secretary of the Ministry, told the Post. “We usually remain ready for both types of budgets.”
However, whether the current caretaker government will be able to present the full budget for the new fiscal year is doubtful. The picture will be clearer once the budget session of the parliament begins on July 5.
Officials say the current government could itself present the full budget if political consensus is had after presenting the policies and programmes of the government. Otherwise, the new government will have to present the full budget a few days after its formation.
Officials told the Post that the ministry has made all preparations for the full budget. “Documents including the economic survey, performance of state-owned enterprises (Yellow Book), progress report of various ministries and book on technical assistance of donors have already been sent for printing,” Khanal said. Only issues related to tax adjustment, red book and a few other documents that are presented along with the budget announcement remain to be completed, according to him.
In the absence of a new government and if no political consensus is had, an option for the incubment government to present an advance budget through a special Bill is open.
Article 96 A (2) of the Interim Constitution says the finance minister can introduce a Bill on the authority to spend in the next fiscal year an amount not exceeding one-third of the total expenditure of the current fiscal year by explaining to the legislative parliament the reasons for doing so.
In 2008, the then Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat had presented an advance budget of Rs. 73.54 billion during the political stalemate after the constituent assembly election.
Keshav Acharya, the senior economic advisor to the Finance Ministry, said that with the resignation of the prime minister, all possibilities are open.
“The full budget is almost ready and what type of a budget will be introduced is a political question,” he said.
Posted on: 2010-07-02 08:21
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