Kathmandu: It is important to look at the budget speech from the point of view of the country’s economic reality and the government’s overall direction. Overall, the budget is introduced to continue what has been going on for a long time.
Two major areas to assess the budget speech are: i) what provisions are included to propel the economy into the positive direction, and ii) will the stated provisions be implemented or not?
In terms of the provisions in the budget, the government has not included plans for big reforms, and schemes to uplift the economy from slowdown.
In the context of Nepal, capital expenditure has always been low. This is something that really hinders economic growth. This situation does not help expedite economic activities.
Also, the budget speech does not explicitly mention any provision to boost the confidence of the country’s private sector. The private sector has been going through an unprecedented level of loss of confidence. We had expected that the budget would address these problems. But the budget speech fails to address this situation.
While talking about development of Bhairahawa and Lumbini provinces, the budget has not introduced plans to enhance economic activities of this region.
The budget speech lacks any specific provisions to operate Gautam Buddha International Airport to the fullest capacity. Also, we had expected some specific provisions to enhance visibility of Lumbini and other areas to expedite the tourism activities.
For the implementation of the budget, there are some provisions that do support the economic sector. Given the past trends, however, we can always be skeptical whether the positive provisions and announcements get implemented in an effective manner or not.
Thakur Kumar Shrestha is the President of Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SiCCI).
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