Kathmandu, January 2: The Finance Committee under the House of Representatives has been suggested to bring a white paper on every facet of the national economy. Speaking during a meeting of the Committee yesterday, economists viewed that a white paper could be brought for the uniformity on the statistics generated by various government agencies including Finance Ministry, Nepal Rastra Bank, and National Planning Commission.
The Committee held the meeting on revenue mobilization, budget implementation, trend of capital expenditure, economic indices yesterday According to the economic experts, the Committee could play an interventionist role to make budget by abiding by the integrated budget system.
Massive reform is imperative to narrow down the gap following the spirit of the constitution, political documents and country’s economy. Former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission Shanker Sharma urged the government to immediately stop local level leaders from acting against fiscal discipline.
The trend of revoking development announcement by State government was equally worrisome. “If Nepal’s energy is sold to the Bangladeshi market, it can help minimize trade deficit to some extent,” he stressed. Similarly, Professor Bishwombhar Pyakurel, argued that the government failed to spend enough amount of capital expenditure because it randomly distributed budget.
Policy and structural problems are impeding the economic development and prosperity, he added. Former members of the National Planning Commission, Gobinda Nepal, however, claimed that the country’s economic status was improving although revenue and remittance data are not in positive trend. Economist Dr. Dilliraj Khanal said although the country had relatively stable politics, capital expenditure was poor due to undue influence in the allocation of development budget. Another economist Keshab Khadka also expressed disappointment over the country’s poor performance regarding the revenue collection and capital expenditure. RSS
