Nepal HoR Endorses ‘Appropriation Bill’ for the FY 2077/78 BS

A meeting of House of Representatives (HoR) of the Federal Parliament has unanimously endorsed the Appropriation Bill for the FY 2077/78 BS.

The endorsement of the Appropriation Bill, tabled by the Finance Minister Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, has cleared the way for the Nepali Government to spend the budget for the upcoming FY.

Earlier, the opposition lawmakers had submitted 26 expenditure reduction proposals for the budget allocated for 21 ministries including the PM’s Office.

However, the members of the Federal Parliament have rejected all these proposals during the session.

Meanwhile, many lawmakers expressed their concerns on the reduction in budget expenses proposed by the Nepali Government. They have criticized the government for reducing the expenses by just a nominal amount.

The lawmakers stressed that the Nepali Government should have considered reorganizing the present bureaucracy to decrease the expenses as the states are reeling under financial scarcity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier on May 28, the Finance Minister Khatiwada presented the Federal Budget for FY 2020/21 worth NPR 1,474.64 billion.

The budget allocations include-

• Recurrent Expenditure – NPR 948.94 billion
• Capital Expenditure – NPR 352.91 billion
• Financing Provision – NPR 172.79 billion

Moreover, the government has set a target of collecting revenue of NPR 889.62 billion and receiving foreign grants and loans of NPR 60.52 billion and NPR 299.5 billion, respectively.

Addressing the ongoing House session, Minister Khatiwada said that the government has tried to maintain the utmost transparency in the new budget.

He also assured that the Nepali Government will consider reducing the funds in various miscellaneous headings proposed by the parliament members.

Responding to the criticism that the government is not paying adequate attention to COVID-19 control, Minister Khatiwada said that the new budget is focused on the health sector.

He informed that the government had allocated an additional NPR 5 billion to purchase health supplies and NPR 2.31 billion to control COVID-19 infection.

Later, he also tabled ‘Raising National Debt Bill-2077’ and ‘Loan and Collateral Bill -2077’ in the Federal Parliament.

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