Business leaders said the last-minute postponement of budget announcement has demonstrated the inefficiency of the government and lack of seriousness of political parities toward the ailing economy of the country.[break]
Business people and economists were participating at a pre-budget interaction organized by Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) when the Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari was making final preparation for announcing the budget for the fiscal year 2011/12.
They also said continued disruption on announcing timely budget for last three years has pushed the country toward further economic crisis.
The budget speech was abruptly postponed after the government´s talks with United Democratic Madhes Front -- an alliance of Madhes based parties -- failed and the Front threatened to disrupt the house proceedings demanding greater say in the upcoming budget.
The participants said the disruption on announcement of budget will lead the country to a quagmire of economic uncertainty and, thus, appealed to all political parties and the government to be serious about announcing the budget on time to address the issues raised by private sector for revitalizing the slowing economy.
"Disruption on announcement of timely budget has pushed the already slackened economy of the country into further crisis as political parties are making the economy a hostage of politics," Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, acting president of FNCCI, said.
Private sector has been demanding that the government include a provision in the upcoming constitution mentioning a fixed date for budget announcement to ensure timely budget speeches in future. "Political parties delay budget announcements to fulfill their vested political interests. It is sheer negligence on the part of political parties toward the economic future of the country," said Kush Kumar Joshi, immediate past-president of FNCCI.
Lingering uncertainty about the budget announcement would cause further liquidity crunch in Bank and Financial Institutions (BFIs) and weaken the government´s capacity to spend the development budget leading to further economic crisis in the country.
Suresh Basnet, president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) said the abrupt postponement of budget would not only aggravate the economy but also push the ongoing constitution drafting and peace process into a cloud of uncertainty.
Former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Deependra Bahadur Kshetri said people´s trust on the government and political leaders have further eroded with the delay in budget announcement.
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