KATHMANDU, August 10: The government is going to increase the salaries and other perks and benefits of the country’s five top officials including the President. In a report submitted by a committee chaired by the then Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, Lakshman Aryal (now retired), it has been proposed to increase the salaries of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) and Chairman of the National Assembly.

The government tabled a budget of Rs 1.533 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year 2019/20. This budget seemed to be of distributive in nature due to announcements like raise in hand-outs to elderly citizens, salary hike to government employees and direct funds to lawmakers for development projects in their constituencies.