Budget blame game uncalled for: FM Bhattarai, VDI soon, Income source necessary for extra property

Talking to media persons here today at his office, Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that he was serious about improving revenue administration and meeting the collection target. He also said that he was unnecessarily being blamed for 'exaggerated' revenue target. "I can assure you the revenue collection till October 31 was Rs 26.24 billion — a 24.3 per cent growth in comparison to the same period last year," he said.

The first finance minister of the Maoist party that fought the 'People's War' - in their own words - for a decade to bring a sea change in the country said that he would employ a carrot-and-stick policy to check rampant corruption.

Dr Bhattarai said revenue officials should be encouraged by providing them extra facilities and perks over and above their pay in order to check corruption and plug revenue leakage. "But if any revenue official is found guilty of corruption he or she will have to face stern action," he warned. He recalled that in his budget speech he had vowed to make revenue administration efficient and transparent.

"The government is serious about strictly implementating the programmes and policies spelled out in the budget, such as the Voluntarily Declaration of Income (VDI). It will be implemented strictly from December 30," he added.Not only that, it will be mandatory for buyers of property like house, land and vehicle to disclose their income sources while making such purchases that exceed a certain limit. "The government is introducing a provision in this regard soon," Dr Bhattarai said.

While purchasing house and land worth more than Rs 5 million, a plot of land worth more than Rs 2.5 million,and a vehicle worth more than Rs 1.5 million, buyers have to mandatorily disclose their income sources.

"The major criticism is on the implementation part of the budget, which is also genuine," admitted Dr Bhattarai, one of the chief ideologues of the Maoist party. "Thus, the Finance Ministry has prepared several follow-up and minitoring mechanisms that will review on weekly and monthly bases ministry-wise, and these will on every seventh day of the month report to the Finance Ministry.

"The budget he that presented on September 19 - two months later than the normal schedule due to political transition - had projected Rs 129.21 billion from revenue, Rs 47.93 billion from foreign grants and Rs 18.70 billion from foreign loans.

Trying to clear the uncertainty about the proposed foreign aid commitment in the budget for the fiscal year 2008-09, Dr Bhattarai said that the foreign aid projected in the budget was on the basis of the commitment from the international community and donor agencies. "We are very hopeful that the foreign aid commitment will be kept," he said.

"A sound economic base is a prerequisite for a new Nepal," he said adding that without a healthy economy, the dream of building a new Nepal would not become a reality. "While revenue collection is satisfactory government spending is less than projected due to festivals," he said adding that the government has cash surplus of Rs 4.24 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal year as against Rs 1.3 billion in the same period the last fiscal.