“I am carrying three to four different drafts in a bid to convince the President and the opposition parties for the full-fledged budget. However, the task has proven pretty difficult,” said Pun.[break]
Despite such statement, Pun assessed his recent interactions with the President and opposition leaders have created some positive environment for the full-fledged budget. “The president has said he will go for the full-fledged budget if we give him a clear constitutional base,” said Pun. “We are also holding talks with the opposition leaders formally as well as informally to foster consensus on budget. As we still have about a week, we are hopeful we will foster environment for full-fledged budget.”
As a part of the government´s endeavor for the full-fledged budget, the Revenue Advisory Committee led by a joint secretary of Ministry of Finance on Monday handed over its recommendations to FM Pun
Pun, speaking on the occasion, highlighted the importance of the full-fledged budget, saying that in the absence of that, the government will not be able to allocate fund for holding the freshly announced Constituent Assembly (CA) election, speed up development works and make use of foreign aid received.
In order to bring opposition leaders on the board for the full-fledged budget, Pun even committed not to incorporate political and populist programs in the budget.
“We neither intend to announce programs that influence elections or make us popular, nor hurt the sentiment of oppositions. We do not believe in such type of politicking,” said Pun.
Top officials of various private associations, on the other hand, demanded the government to issue full-fledged budget on time through political consensus.
“Full-fledged budget on time is crucial because in its absence the private sector will not know for sure the government´s policy priorities. And it must come in
consensus because in the absence of consensus the implementation of policies and programs remain doubtful,” said Suraj Vaidya, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
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