Talking to mediapersons at the Ministry of Finance Saturday, Finance Minister Dr Bhattarai expressed serious concern over the current high inflation and informed that the government has recently formed a committee to monitor the domestic inflationary pressure. “Despite a substantial decline in inflation in India, which directly affects domestic inflation, it is worrying to see that inflation in Nepal has not gone down,” he said and warned that the government might intervene in the market if the unnatural inflationary pressure persisted.
The Finance Minister also warned that the government is committed to take on those who ignore the government’s Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) and do not declare illegally amassed assets by mid-February. I request to all those who have amassed assets through illegal means to utilize the opportunity provided through VDIS,” he said.
“I want to stress that the government will use all legal means to punish those who don’t legalize their assets through the VDIS scheme,” he said and informed the gathering that various individuals have declared assets worth Rs 58.7 million by the end of by Mid-January.
Dr Bhattarai further said the capital expenditure, which is now 20 percent less than that of the same period last year, will start to accelerate from coming months. We have put all necessary machinery and modality in place to foster the capital expenditure and we are confident that the expenditure will make a quantum jump from next month,” he said.
The Finance Minister said that implementation of all major budgetary programs are on track and reiterated that combined impact of the programs will help achieve the targeted growth rate of seven percent for the current fiscal year. However, he hinted that the actual inflation rate might remain slightly higher than this year’s target.
He also said that the government has begun implementing major programs announced in the budget and expressed confidence that the development activities will take new turn from coming months. The Finance Minister highlighted various programs the government has launched and their positive impact on the economy.
He said the government will soon bring the closed government-owned enterprises into operation and added that the cooperative shops will be set up in each VDC in rural areas, and in urban areas for every 30,000 population.
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