What industry people and experts say about budget

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat presented the budget for fiscal year 2014/15 on Sunday. The budget has received mixed reaction from economists and industry people. Kriti Bhuju of Republica talked to some industry people and economists to know their comments on the new budget. Excerpts: Implementation part will be challenging Narendra Kumar Basnyat President of Confederation of Nepalese Industries The budget looks promising budget. But I think the implementation part will be very challenging. The budget is very encouraging for the private sector as it has prioritized infrastructure development and energy sector. The government decision to provide subsidies for energy sector is praiseworthy. I appreciate the decision to send 400 government employees to private organizations to learn best practices that private sector has adopted. Private sector happy with focus on infrastructure, energy Pradip Jung Pandey President of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Private sector is very happy with the budget. The government has put focus on the infrastructure development and the energy sector. Similarly, we welcome the decision to provide income tax holiday for first 10 years and 50 percent exemption for the next five years for hydropower projects to be completed by 2022/23. The private sector would like to thank the government for announcing subsidy one time grant of Rs 5 million per mega watt for hydropower projects. Budgetary allocation for industrial development, education and health sector is also commendable. Budget interrelated with government objective Bishwambher Pyakuryal Senior Economist The budget is interrelated with the government’s objectives like poverty alleviation, jobs creation, social justice, infrastructure development, and graduating Nepal to the league of developing nations by 2022. However, the target of increasing economic growth to 6 percent and containing inflation at 8 percent looks ambitious and hence will be difficult to achieve. In a country like ours where capital expenditure remains unspent, increasing the budget size is not important. We need economic reforms. In other countries, budgetary allocations are made only after bringing economic reforms. But the trend is opposite here. This needs to be changed. Economic reforms praiseworthy Dilli Raj Khanal Economist The government has announced various economic reform programs which is admirable. Though the government has continued the tradition and brought smaller programs, the package introduced to end load-shedding is praiseworthy. However, people of low-income groups are likely to suffer mainly due to hike in prices of food commodities. Many projects and plans announced in the budget are ambitious. I have doubts over the implementation part. Impossible to achieve 6 percent growth Deependra Bahadur Kshetry Economist It would be difficult to achieve the target of 6 percent economic growth and containing inflation at 8 percent. The government has not announced any concrete programs to increase industrial production for achieving high economic growth. It would be impossible to achieve the targets as we have a coalition government of political parties with different economic principles. However, it is good to note that budget has been made transparent and its size has been increased. Though only around 70 percent of the capital expenditure has been spent in the current fiscal year, the government has raised capital expenditure from Rs 85 billion to Rs 166 billion. No concrete program has been announced to spend capital expenditure. Budget encourages pvt sector to make fresh investment Shekhar Golchha President of Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association I welcome the budget as it has encouraged private sector by providing subsidies and relief packages to make fresh investments. Subsidies announced on infrastructure and energy sectors are praiseworthy. I appreciate the government decision to not increase import duty on vehicles. The government has addressed our demand which is very positive.   Source: Republica