KATHMANDU, July 23: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun on Monday instructed government secretaries to effectively spend the partial budget unveiled last week.
During an interaction with secretaries of all ministries, Pun urged them to ensure better delivery of services to the people, continue the ongoing development works and make special efforts for efficient use of the limited resources.
“If we had been able to come up with a full-fledged budget, we would have known programs and priorities more clearly and had more resources to move ahead. Nonetheless, I ask you to work in the same spirit even if we are constrained by the one-third budget,” said Pun.
He said that the one-third budget too was not that meager in itself and if secretaries worked with zeal and commitment, they can give momentum to the development works and better serve the people.
“Ministries that perform will not face budget scarcity because we will transfer the budget unspent by other ministries to those better performing ministries,” said Pun.
Pun reiterated that the country must have a full-fledged budget as soon as possible to lay down more predictable working environment, so that both public sector and private sector players could execute their plans and programs without any confusion.
“The implications of not having a full-fledged budget are huge; their impacts run deep and affect the overall economy and development works. Hence, we had pushed for it till the last hour,” said Pun.
Nonetheless, he expressed hope that the political parties will arrive at consensus soon and pave the way for bringing a full-fledged fiscal policy.
“Such situation can emerge at any time. Hence, I suggest you all to complete ground works for programs that have been endorsed by the Ministry of Finance at the technical level. That will make you ready, enabling the government to instantly implement the programs as soon as a full budget is announced,” said Pun.
Pun also instructed the secretaries to work fairly.
On the occasion, secretaries pinpointed numerous hassles they faced while getting the priority 2 (P2) and Priority 3 (P3) programs endorsed through the National Planning Commission (NPC), and requested the Ministry of Finance to take decisions on those programs at the respective ministries itself.
Responding to them, Pun said that the aim of every government was to speed up the development works and facilitate their execution by simplifying rules and procedures. “If there is no legal complication and technical difficulty, we can allow the ministries to decide about those locally implemented projects as well. But you will have to prove your fairness to win that trust,” he stated.
Among others, vice chairman and senior officials of National Planning Commission too were present on the occasion.
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