KATHMANDU: Member of the House of Representatives (HoR) and former Finance Minister, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, urged the government to increase investment in the productive sector.    
Taking part in the deliberations on the annual estimations of revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year 2024-25 in the lower house of the Federal Parliament on Sunday, Mahat said that the failure to invest in the productive sector will impede the nation's economic growth.

“Production and employment cannot be increased, nor can revenue, if loans are not used to invest in productive sectors. As a result, the state's debt burden increases, leading to a cycle of taking more loans to repay existing ones,” he said.   
Lawmaker Mahat expressed his objections to the budget, saying that the budgetary appropriations for the next fiscal year in it were 'scattered'. He argued that the budget should be pro-people than party-oriented and the allocated budget should be spend on the basis of prioritization.    
He said although the size of the budget has increased, the country's economic development cannot be achieved if it is not spent in a systematic manner.

“The government is struggling to generate revenue because financial resources are not spent in productive sectors, and this has also failed to create jobs. The budget allocations for the next fiscal year have not been prioritized or apportioned based on need,” he added.

Stating the budget allocated for the Ministry of Industry and Supplies is inadequate, he criticized the budget because the allocations have been made in such a way that they will be spent in unproductive sectors than in the productive ones.    
The former finance minister stressed on being sensitive on the topic of mobilization and spending of financial resources.

"The budget for the upcoming fiscal year has not been able to navigate a concrete direction. Investment has been made, we have been collecting taxes, but the production has not increased. It is necessary to find a solution to these problems," he pointed out.    
Noting that the state's foreign debt has been going up and the debt burden of loans taken from the private sector is accumulating, he said that the government has not been able to generate revenue as  expected revenue and this has led to a decline in the economy.    
Lawmaker Mahat said the depositors of cooperatives have been facing problem in recent days due to the fraud cases and demanded taking stern legal action against individuals who spent the savings of the cooperatives against the cooperatives laws. -- RSS