Budget session preparations complete: Pre-budget discussion only after policy and programme

The budget session of the federal parliament is scheduled to start from 2 pm on Thursday, 17th of Baisakh. In this budget session, the government will present the budget for the next financial year 2083/084. For this, Speaker Devraj Ghimire and Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has already discussed. According to the discussion between Speaker Ghimire and Finance Minister Wagle, the government's annual policy and program will be presented first in this budget session. Only then will there be a debate on the principles and priorities of the appropriation bill (pre-budget discussion). This new schedule has been approved as the Budget Calendar.

According to Federal Parliament Spokesperson Ekram Giri, the agenda for the budget session is almost at its final stage. The policy and program of the government is ready to be presented in the Parliament between May 20 and 22. Policy and program will be discussed for about five days. After that, on May 27 or 28, Finance Minister Dr. Wagle will present the principles and priorities of the budget to Parliament. After the completion of this process, the budget for the next fiscal year will be submitted to the Joint House on May 15.

Earlier, it was customary to prioritize pre-budget discussions in budget sessions. However, due to the instability of the previous governments, there was a problem in the formulation and implementation of the budget. During the preparation of the budget for the financial year 2081/082, the system of pre-budget discussion before the policies and programs of the government was amended. Then, the then Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel amended the budget calendar through an ordinance and introduced the policy and program first.

This time, the National Independent Party has formed a single government with a two-thirds majority, so stability is expected for five years. Due to this, it seems that there will be more ease in budgeting and implementation. A five-member team under the coordination of Uttar Kumar Khatri, Head of the Revenue Management Division of the Ministry of Finance, is handling the task of preparing the budget for the financial year 2083/084. This committee has the heads of various divisions of the Ministry of Finance as members. They have the main responsibility of writing the budget, drafting the budget statement and determining the principles and priorities of the budget.

Meanwhile, the National Resource Estimates Committee has provided a budget ceiling of 18 trillion 90 billion to the Ministry of Finance for the next financial year. Of this, capital expenditure is estimated at 3.67 billion 10 million, which is about 17.87 billion less than the current financial year. A limit of 7 trillion 55 billion 24 crores was given towards the current budget. The limit of 3 trillion 48 billion for loan interest payment (financial arrangement) and 4 trillion 19 billion 15 billion for financial transfers is maintained. Finance Minister Wagle is preparing to make the upcoming budget transformative and balanced.