KATHMANDU: The Nepali Congress (NC) has said that the budget unveiled for the upcoming fiscal year through ordinance has violated the established democratic norms and values of ‘no taxation without representation’.
Releasing the party’s views on budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, NC lawmaker Dr Minendra Rijal argued that the government has attempted to spread false impression by presenting the already unveiled plans as the new ones.
Rijal also expressed his dissatisfaction stating that public debt of the government increased by almost two-fold without any concrete achievements during the tenure of the incumbent government. “It lacks capacity to project implementation. The budget speech is aimed at giving a false impression to the public like in the previous polls,” said Dr Rijal.
Arguing that the set targets on physical progress are not realistic, Dr Rijal added that target for revenue collection set by the current government has not met in any of the fiscal year since its formation. In the upcoming fiscal year too, the internal and external debts will rise and the target to collect Rs 1,152 billion in revenue will fail, the NC leader shared the party’s viewpoint.
“The private sector will have tough time accessing credit and there will be unnecessary pressure on interest rate thereby further deteriorating the environment for investment,” he said. He also took exception to massive concentration of budget in certain electoral constituencies on the basis of leaders’ access to power at a time when the people are severely affected from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The budget is not focused on the issues of Nepali youths forced to go for foreign employment adding that environment for investment will further shrink if remittance inflow goes down due to the global impact of COVID-19, the NC leader said.
The NC also concluded that there is no possibility of achieving economic growth of 6.5 percent as claimed in the budget speech.
On the occasion, the NC leaders criticized the government for its poor delivery to contain the spread of COVID-19 and ensure treatment of the infected ones. Asked about the revival of House of Representatives (HoR), Dr Rijal said that there was no doubt on it and the government to be formed after the HoR revival will bring new budget on its own. Similarly, he said that the Supreme Court’s verdict in regard to HoR dissolution would be in favor of constitution, justice and people and that will give an exit to the country’s political impasse. RSS
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