The FY 2023/24 federal budget presented by Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat is being discussed at the parliament currently. According to Prime Minister’s Chief Political Adviser Haribol Gajurel, since the budget has not been passed by the parliament, resource allocation in some of the budget headings can be revised.
The Rs 1751.31bn federal budget is currently at the receiving end from the lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition parties for the tax changes in electric vehicles, retrospective tax on mergers as well as the concentration of resource allocation of some of the ruling parties' districts. More than 50 percent of the budget for the Alternative Subsidiary Highway Development Program has been allocated to the districts of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Finance Minister Mahat, Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala, and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Of the total Rs 5.17bn allocated for the program, Rs 1.1bn has been allocated for Dadheldura, the home district of former Prime Minister Deuba. Similarly, Rs 665m has been allocated to Finance Minister Mahat’s home district Nuwakot while Rs 541m to Gorkha district, from where Prime Minister Dahal was elected in the parliament. Salyan, the home district of Minister Jwala has received Rs 300m. More than 50 percent i.e. Rs 2.61bn has been allocated to the districts of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Physical Infrastructure Minister, and former Prime Minister while the remaining 73 districts have got a 49 percent budget. Since the budget is the prerogative of the government in a parliamentary democracy, the budget presented by the government is passed by the parliament without major changes. If the budget is not passed, the government is considered to have lost confidence. Economists express worry over the ruling parties’ decision saying that it may set a wrong precedent for the future whereby a trend could be established to amend the budget to fulfill the interests of certain parties, leaders, parliamentarians, and individuals. Economist Chandra Mani Adhikari said the decision of the ruling parties to revise the budget even before it gets parliamentary endorsement shows the weakness of the government. “This also indicates the government is not serious about the budget-making process,” he said. Economists say the resource allocation in the budget should be made based on the availability of resources, needs, and capacity while drafting the country’s main fiscal document. “These factors should be paid attention to while preparing the budget. Since there is a coalition government, it should be more serious about it,” said Adhikari. However, some economists said that the budget revision should not be taken negatively. “Budget revision in Nepal is understood as a failure of the government. It may be true to some extent. However, the budget can also be amended to balance it for the right purpose,” said economist Keshav Acharya, “However, it does not bode well if the budget is amended to serve the interests of certain groups.” The revision of the budget, according to Acharya, should be based on necessity. “The issue of unbalanced budget allocation has come into the limelight in the new budget with certain districts getting higher resource allocation,” he said. “The randomly allocated amount should be reduced and added to the districts where allocation is insufficient.”
