July 12: Opposition leaders are raising questions over the budget introduced by the former finance minister Janardan Sharma after his disgraceful exit.

The opposition leaders claimed that Sharma introduced the budget for upcoming fiscal year without addressing some of the major issues related to the economy such as balance of payments, trade deficit and inflation.

Former Finance Minister Dr. Yuvaraj Khatiwada said that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year should be amended. He claimed that the economy will get in crisis if the proposed budget is implemented.

Speaking at a recent programme organized in Kathmandu, Khatiwada said that there are lots of issues in the budget that are still not accepted by the public.

“None of the parties ever introduced the provision of paying old-age allowance to people over 68 years. However, the government introduced such an arrangement through this budget. It is not approved by the people. Thus, the budget is not feasible for many reasons like this,” said Khatiwada.

According to him, the budget does not include measures to address the issues related to balance of payments, trade deficit, price hike and other major problems of the economy.

“The budget should be amended also because unauthorized people were allowed to enter the ministry during the preparation of the budget and manipulate tax rates in favor of certain business group,” Khatiwada added.

Khatiwada says that the target of economic growth should be only 6 percent in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. He also said that monetary policy should not be formulated to achieve the target of 8 percent economic growth in line with the budget.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel also said that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year is not feasible.

“Even if the budget is passed by the parliament, it has to get approval from the parliament’s probe committee which was formed after Sharma courted controversy. Unless that is done, it will not be considered a budget for the next fiscal year,” said Poudel.

He blamed that when the former ministers including him departed, they left with a strong economy, however, the current government is responsible for weakening the economy of the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Prithviraj Ligal, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, said that Nepal is similar to Sri Lanka politically but not economically. He said that the government made a mistake by manipulating the budget even during the economic crisis.

“It would be foolish for the NRB to formulate a monetary policy targeting 8 percent economic growth, similar to the target set by the budget. Currently, when the prices need to be reduced and demand in the market needs to be reduced, monetary policy should be brought keeping all these aspects into consideration,” he said.

Presenting a paper during the program, Dr. Dilnath Dangal said that imports should be discouraged and the use of indigenous goods should be increased to resolve the current problem.

Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma resigned after being criticized for manipulating tax rates through the budget.