Tuesday, April 12, 2011

White paper fails to white wash finance minister's image

Mired in a controversy over supplementary budget coupled with poor economic performance, the Finance Ministry today issued a White Paper that has nothing new except some political slogans and regular promises.
"The economy is not in comfortable position," said deputy prime minister and finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari issuing the White Paper that according to him is expected to give direction to the ailing economy.
"Agriculture and industry could not contribute to the economy as they should have been," he said, accepting that gross domestic product (GDP) growth has also failed the government projection in the budget for the current fiscal year.
"The ministry has started preparation for the budget for the fiscal year 2011-12," Adhikari said, adding that the new budget will focus on Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs), and women entrepreneurship, boosting manufacturing and strenghtening cooperatives for commercialisation of agriculture and service sector.
The opposition Nepali Congress has asked the government to follow the regular process while bringing the budget that takes almost one-and-a-half month, but the the cabinet has decided to bring the budget for the next fiscal year on May 3. The finance minister also didnot look confident that the budget could be announced on May 3. "It could be some days later," he added.
Adhikari also accepted that the government has failed in creating employment and cracking whip on price hike, let alone meet the inflatio ntarget and growth projection.
"The government has also failed in creating investment friendly environment to lure more investment," said central bank governor Dr Yubraj Khatiwada.
"One one hand private sector is not feeling confortable to invest and on the other the government also could not spend," he said, adding that the escalating price of petroleum products in the international market has hiked the cost of economy.
The economy has also contracted due to sharp fall in real estate and share prices due to wrong policies, according to the governor. "The central bank has given a shock treatment to the real estate and share market through Monetary Policy," he reasoned, adding that the shock treatment was necessary to bring the sectors back to health.
However, the governor blamed the political instability for most of the economic troubles.


Mum on NOC loan
KATHMANDU: Deputy prime minister and finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari scaped the question on how the finance ministry is going to tackle the Nepal Oil Corporation's rising bill. The NOC is in loss of Rs 1.77 billion according to its supplier Indain Oil Corporation's rate of April 1. The state oil monopoly has been asking the government to provide it a grant or loan to pay for the bills that could guarantee the smooth supply of petroleum products.

FM to visit US
KATHMANDU: The finance minister is visiting the US on Tuesday evening with a troup of five secretaries and high level officials from Energy, Home, Commerce and Supplies and Finance Ministries. "I will take part in hydro developers meet and disaster management meet apart from signing Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) on April 15 and reviewing the bilateral ties between the US and Nepal," he said, adding that Nepal is in focus of this year's disaster meeting as it is high earthquake prone country in the world.

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