GOVT. ASKED TO BRING SMALL BUDGET Kathmandu, 11 June Economists on Sunday asked the government to introduce a small-size budget on time through forging political consensus, The Rising Nepal reports. Speaking at an interaction organised here in the Capital, they said that the government, which has become caretaker one, should bring in a small-size budget for six months only through an ordinance. They also suggested introducing the budget on the basis of political consensus to make its implementation easier. They, however, emphasised on full-sized budget by forging national consensus prior to the introduction of the budget of the fiscal year 2012/13 in order to move the country to a right track. If political consensus could be made prior to the new budget, long term projects could also be introduced by reforming the existing policies and programmes, they said. Prof. Dr. Bishwambhar Pyakuryal said that the budget should be introduced on time based on political consensus. Bringing in a big-sized budget in political pressure and creating obstacles to introducing it on time will not be beneficial to the country, he said. He said that the proposed Rs. 429 billion budget was beyond the capacity of the economy at present. He suggested that the government should not introduce such an expansionary budget saying that it could meet the targets of revenue collection and foreign assistance. While the country is facing a huge trade deficit, the return of the government’s investment is very low and around 46 per cent foreign assistance is being spent. So, a big-sized budget would not be beneficial to the economy, he said. Dr. Chiranjivi Nepal said that the caretaker government should bring in a budget to meet its target. He, however, said that full fledged budget could be introduced if the political consensus could be forged prior to the new budget. As the budget is also a political document, the government has no right to change tax rates and making long-term plans and investments, he said. Another economist Dr. Chandra Mani Adhikari stressed the need for political parties to reach consensus on common minimum programmes in introducing the budget for the next fiscal year. Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal said that the country needed a full-size budget in any situation. He stressed the need for an employment-centric budget focusing on agriculture, social justice, tourism, industry, and mega projects. Dr. Tilak Rawal and Pushpa Kandel also highlighted the need for introducing a proper budget on time based on political consensus. nnnn