FINANCE MINISTER PUN PROMISES CONSENSUS BUDGET Kathmandu, 27 June: Minister for Finance, Barsha Man Pun, has stressed that there was no alternative to bringing the new budget on the basis of political consensus though it was not possible to bring the budget with programs of peoples’ aspirations due to country’s political transition, RSS reports. At an interaction program organized by Nepalese Association of Financial Journalists (NAFIJ) on Wednesday, the Finance Minister said that the budget will be brought through ordinances by forging consensus among political parties as there is no situation to bring the budget as per the provision in the constitution in context that there is no parliament in the country. Stating that he has been holding meetings with top leaders of the political parties to forge consensus on the budget issues as the country’s political and economic sectors have been affected by transition, Finance Minister Pun said that the task of budget-making was underway. He added that all the top leaders have given him consent for making preparations for budget and it would be announced after consensus. Pun mentioned that the new budget would give priority to product-oriented, employment-oriented, social security, agricultural, tourism and physical infrastructures development programmers. The new budget would be people-oriented instead of the ambitious one, he said. Minister Pun further said that the first priority of the budget would be creating environment of investment by making the budget investment-friendly as the investment is the first step of the country’s development. Similarly, former Minister for Finance, Surendra Pandey, said that there was no meaning of the budget sans political consensus as questions will be raised on its effectiveness and implementation. Though budget was must to run the State, it could not be kept detached from politics, he said. Pandey said that there was need to make the budget development-oriented.Likewise, economist Prof. Dr. Bishwombher Pyakurel said the budget should be brought as per the need of the country rather than focusing on cheap popularity. He stressed the need of bringing the complete budget on the basis of consensus among the parties. "There will be a long term impact on country’s developments if the complete budget is not brought", he added. Another economist, Chirinjivi Nepal, said that only the budget with the political consensus could be implemented. Vice President of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pradeep Jung Pandey, industrialist Narendra Kumar Gupta, NAFIJ Chairman Sukdev Chapagain, former Chairman Amrit Kharel underlined the need of formulating the budget, addressing the needs of the people. Nnnn