Kathmandu. Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel has refused to implement economic reforms through the budget. Stating that it may lead to controversy, Minister Poudel has refused to formulate a budget to boost the economy.
The budget team of the Ministry of Finance is currently working hard. But Minister Poudel is pressuring not to include controversial programs in the budget. A ministry employee said that Minister Poudel has been urging not to include any program in the budget that could bring him into controversy.
The employee told Singha Durbar, “If you want to be bold with the budget, you need to be very bold with the allocation and budget programs. But the minister’s only agenda is to send a message to make a budget that will please the balance of power and not cause controversy.”
A commission was formed under the leadership of former Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal on the initiative of Finance Minister Poudel to carry out economic reforms. The High-Level Economic Advisory Commission has already submitted its suggestions. Finance Minister Poudel has also refused to implement the same suggestions. The commission has proposed to abolish the Revenue Investigation Department under the Prime Minister’s Office. But the budget has rejected the proposal.
If the suggestion is to be implemented, it should be clearly written in the budget that ‘the Revenue Investigation Department will be abolished’. Similarly, Minister Poudel has also rejected the Commission’s suggestion to immediately pay the remaining liabilities of the government. Minister Poudel has refused to pay the 11 billion liability of the Covid insurance guaranteed by the government. Even after 1 year of his assuming the leadership of the ministry, he has not been able to receive the payment of the Covid insurance.
The health insurance program has failed. But the budget has not been able to work on the new modality. Health Minister Pradeep Poudel has already said that 40 billion will be required for the insurance program alone next year. But the Finance Ministry has not made any plans to restructure the program. Currently, health insurance has become the main income of private hospitals. As the distortions within it increase, the government has not been able to make any improvements.
The Ministry of Finance has refused to do justice even to the trillions of rupees spent on social security. The Ministry of Finance has promoted social security as a natural right. Due to which even millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires are using this facility. The Ministry of Finance has failed to provide social security only to the target group by extracting data.
It is time to increase the salaries of civil servants, army, police, armed police, teachers and other public servants. But the ministry has not made any plan to reduce the number of public servants and provide quality services.
The Economic Advisory Commission has stated that a new stock exchange is not needed by restructuring the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE). But Minister Poudel himself is playing the game of giving new stock licenses by weakening NEPSE.
Finance Minister Poudel did not dare
For the new phase of economic reform, Finance Minister Poudel will have to do very unpopular things. Social security, the structure of civil servants, payment of government liabilities, public welfare programs, abolition of unnecessary bodies, and revenue policy require great courage.
But Minister Poudel has adopted a strategy of keeping everyone in check and not getting into controversy as long as he remains a minister. The Ministry of Finance has completely failed in the economic diplomacy that should be taken with the two neighboring countries, India and China. The Ministry of Finance has moved forward to disgrace the nation by saying that it will convert the loan into a grant after signing a loan agreement once. The ministry, which should be equipped with statistics and analysis, has become weaker and weaker in recent times.
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