KATHMANDU: Former Prime Minister Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai has argued that the budget for the Fiscal Year 2019/20 does not reflect an encouraging scenario of a government having a two-thirds majority.

The budget presented by the government is simply unsatisfactory, Dr. Bhattarai said while addressing the parliament on Friday. The budget indicates that the Finance Minister was under s state of bewilderment while preparing the document.

“It’s evident that the budget is short of some key details despite being stuffed with the whole lot,” he alleged saying that the budget does not reflect the government’s strength and priorities.

“We cannot console ourselves by comparing the budget with those of the Panchayat regime,” said Dr. Bhattarai, who is also a former finance minister. He said it is high time that the country’s development is accelerated, not move ahead on a snail’s pace.

In another context, Dr. Bhattarai said Nepal cannot maintain equidistance with both India and China. “Nepal cannot take advantage from China due to our geography and infrastructural difficulties,” he said. Moreover, he argued that since Nepal’s economy is dependent on India, the government needs to bring a policy to manage our economy on the basis of our own interest. “We cannot take the benefit from China’s economy even in the next four decades,” he added saying that trade with China will prove to be costly than with India.

Dr. Bhattarai, however, said that Nepal also needs to develop close ties with the northern neighbor for the long-term trade.