KATHMANDU: Questions have emerged over apparent changes made to the Economic Bill tabled alongside the national budget by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, with concerns being raised about whether amendments were introduced after the legislation had already been presented in Parliament.
As part of the budget presentation on May 29, Finance Minister Wagle submitted the Economic Bill, 2026, to the House of Representatives, following the long-established budgetary process. The bill was subsequently published on the Ministry of Finance’s website.
However, scrutiny of different versions of the document suggests that the bill may have been revised multiple times after its parliamentary registration. According to comparisons of the documents uploaded to the ministry’s website, versions containing 461 pages and 459 pages were later replaced by a 450-page version currently available online.
The revisions have prompted concerns among legal and economic observers regarding the process through which changes were introduced.
Economist Govinda Nepal has argued that amendments to an Economic Bill already presented in Parliament generally require formal approval through the appropriate governmental process, including Cabinet involvement.
No public Cabinet decision authorizing revisions to the bill has yet been disclosed.
The reported changes are said to involve provisions related to the green tax on petroleum products, taxation of electric vehicles, HS code classifications, and other fiscal measures contained in the legislation.
According to available information, approximately 11 pages from an earlier published version of the bill are no longer included in the latest version available on the Finance Ministry’s website, leading to questions about what specific provisions were altered and under what authority the changes were made.
So far, neither ruling coalition lawmakers nor opposition parties have formally raised the issue in Parliament. Likewise, the government has not publicly explained the differences between the various versions of the bill.
The matter has drawn attention because provisions contained in an Economic Bill can have immediate legal and fiscal consequences, with some measures taking effect upon presentation and others becoming effective from the start of the new fiscal year.
As debate grows over the integrity of the budget-making process, observers are calling for greater transparency regarding any revisions made after the bill was formally introduced in the House.
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