The Perspective: Nepal Budget Priorities for FY 2083/84 #ntvworld #psbnepal #ntv

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Heat. Heat.

[00:00:40]Hello and welcome to the perspective on MTV World. I am Sabikas Rashtra. From major headlines to the issues behind them, we break down the top stories and explore how they are shaping the path forward. This week's episode includes Nepal's budget session officially begins this week as the government prepares to unveil a nearly 1.9 trillion rupees budget amid slowing economic growth, weak capital spending and rising pressure to create jobs at home. We discussed the government's key budget priorities, concerns over poor implementation efforts to revive private sector confidence and the growing number of young Nepales leaving the country for foreign employment. We also look at the government's newly launched digital suggestion collection portal and whether greater public participation can truly make the budget process more transparent and effective. Stay with us for these stories and more.

[00:01:40]The budget session of Nepal's federal parliament has kicked off marking the start of the new parliamentary year with the government's policy and program presentation. President Ramchandra Podel addressed the joint sitting of both the house of representatives and the national assembly Monday in line with article 95 of the constitution of Nepal.

[00:02:01]Both the houses meet separately with agendas including announcements related to the session convening information on recent cabinet reshuffle and procedural matters such as presiding arrangements and rule approvals. The government is expected to table the eight ordinances including amendments related to public procurement and the constitutional council which will be presented in both houses for consideration.

[00:02:30]During the joint sitting, President Ramchandra Powell presented the government's policy and program for the upcoming fiscal year. The council of ministers early on and Monday endorsed the policy and programs with the weight of expectations on the nearly twothird majority government. The policy and programs are likely to revolve around the 100point commitment paper of the RSP government. The presentation comes in accordance with article 95 of the constitution of Nepal. The policy and programs outline the government's major priorities, plans and areas of focus before the annual budget is introduced.

[00:03:06]The address by president formally launches parliamentary discussions related to national policies and development priorities for the next fiscal cycle.

[00:03:18]As Nepal is preparing to unveil a budget worthy nearly 1.9 trillion rupees for the upcoming fiscal year, the newly elected government faces mounting pressure to revive a slowing economy, boost private sector confidence, and create jobs for thousands of young people leaving the country for foreign employment each year. Economists say the upcoming budget will be critical in determining whether Nepal can accelerate development and restore economic momentum after years of weak capital spending and sluggish market activity.

[00:03:51]Here's a report. Nepal government is currently finalizing the national budget for fiscal year 202627.

[00:04:00]At a time when Nepal's economy continues to struggle with slow growth, weak consumer demand and low investment confidence. Experts say one of the country's biggest economic challenges remains poor capital expenditure.

[00:04:14]Development spending by the government has remained consistently low in recent years, delaying infrastructure projects and slowing economic activity across multiple sectors. At the same time, declining purchasing power among consumers has weakened market activity.

[00:04:32]While many businesses continue to hold back investment despite sufficient liquidity in the banking sector, economists warned that the lack of economic opportunities at home has also contributed to the continued outflow of young Nepales seeking employment abroad, raising concerns about long-term productivity and the country's ability to mobilize domestic resources effectively. The new government led by the Rashria Sautundra Party RSB which secured a near twothirds majority in the March parliamentary elections is now under pressure to deliver a budget that directly addresses public expectations particularly among young voters seeking employment and economic stability.

[00:05:17]Former vice chairperson of the national planning commission govinda says the budget should focus more on development and production rather than short-term distribution programs.

[00:05:37]Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.

[00:06:06]for says priority should be given to sectors that can strengthen Nepal's domestic economy including energy exports, information technology and infrastructure development. He also says the government should focus on completing unfinished largecale projects and restoring confidence in the private sector to encourage greater investment.

[00:06:47]Experts say although banks currently hold investable funds, businesses remain hesitant to expand due to uncertainty in the economy and weak market demand.

[00:06:58]Economists are also urging the government to introduce employment focused policies and provide special support for small and medium-sized enterprises which are considered key drivers of job creation and economic recovery.

[00:07:16]Body focus quality education training.

[00:07:42]Analysts say citizens are now expecting tangible relief and visible development outcomes rather than policy promises alone. They argue that the upcoming budget will be closely watched as a test of the government's ability to translate its strong electoral mandate into economic results. The government is expected to make public the budget with total spending projected to exceed 1 trill890 billion Nepali rupees.

[00:08:13]We explored more on the priorities and possible impacts of the upcoming budget with development economist Bojaz Powell through this virtual conversation.

[00:08:23]Welcome to NTV World sir.

[00:08:25]>> Thank you very much Sabi Kaji. As Nepal is preparing to unveil a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, how realistic will be the sealing of nearly 1.9 trillion rupees given by the National Planning Commission amid a slowing economy? What should be the government's top priority this fiscal year?

[00:08:44]>> The ceiling in itself makes sense. But what should be the priority to uh and then where should be the focus of the government is the key question. I think first and foremost there are critical infrastructures that are already underway to be developed. They have to be prioritized and completed on time. Uh the second is government has to come out with maximizing the resources including the infrastructures that we have. For instance, Nepal right now has three international airports. Poker, Gautam Buddha and Thirwan International Airport. Government should come up with ways of leveraging these three halves with international airports. Then it comes to incentivizing the private sector to directly participate and creating wealth to uh push the reform agenda. Uh the without the participation of the private sector any reform agenda is going to be meaningless. That's where the government really should think about how it can actually win the confidence of the private sector and then implement the policies in partnership with the private sector. That said, Nepal really the government really has to work on and come up with innovative ways of operationalizing public private partnership modality which is in very much limbo for last one decade. even from the very much point of establishing investment board of Nepal.

[00:10:11]>> So how confident are you that the budget will not have to be revised midway due to lackluster development expenditure spending?

[00:10:18]>> Governments should start working on from day one. I mean we we bring budget but then the implementation process gets very much delayed. it gets into inter agency coordination capability and then the mechanism there is really no uh established mechanism where the inter agency coordination becomes very successful because every project requires high level of coordination among the government agencies including ministries that's where the government should come up with the ways of enhancing the coordination cooperation and then one funding or allocating resources and financial resources for the project that are ready to kick off.

[00:10:59]The uh the government has to leverage the existing resources, existing infrastructures that we have.

[00:11:05]>> And the third one is in terms of expenditure, increasing capital expenditure. The first important task is not about anything else. It's rather the inter agency coordination and very fast coordination which I mean one year is a very short time and then we reach to next quarter and then third quarter and then things start already too late to kick off. That's why early on uh government should come up with budget implementation plan that is bought that is convinced and can be uh complied by all the stakeholders including federal ministries, provincial governments and the local governments.

[00:11:45]>> Mr. Powell, capital expenditure and budget implementation have remained weak for years. Why has Nepal consistently struggled to transit budgets into actual development?

[00:11:56]>> There are very higher level. Oh, okay.

[00:11:59]Hey, we our procurement policy is this and that but the I hope the government will come up with a very much uh solvable challenges or the problems that are holding the expenditure uh issue right that's where the the current government given the given the expertise that our leadership has in terms of even look at the finance ministry national planning commission uh national uh Nepal raster bank all of them have solid leadership in terms of technical understanding of the economy and then the theoretical understanding of how budget should be what kind of policies there should be the only issue of implementation that's where the the uh the we should bring down the larger uh you know narrative of okay the budget expend capital expenditure is not happening because of this this this larger policies we know that what we don't know is what exactly what kind smaller problems are being coming together to block the road for implementation. That's why the ministry of finance really has to work with the other line ministries in terms of implementation.

[00:13:10]>> Sir, thousands of young Nepales continue leaving for foreign employment every year. So what concrete policies should the budget introduce to create job opportunities at home?

[00:13:23]Well, I think that's a that's a long shot uh how we can create job in the country. For that for first the budget has to give the confidence to the private sector. Second, after that confidence, the private sector should actually find space and areas to engage and invest. Third, there has to be uh agre demand being increased at the domestic level, right? For that the government has to um give space and make individuals consumers uh have more and more disposable income. For that the government really has to work in terms of uh final finding ways to formalizing the economy. Uh that's where everybody in the informal sector also feels secure about spending whatever the income they have. uh without that the uh there there would be no jobs. Without jobs young people would be always looking for uh going abroad. But at the same time the people leaving country is not only for jobs because there are there are there are jobs and opportunities in the informal sector. The only thing is how reliable they are. what kind of uh compensation plan that the government has and what kind how we are monitoring the private sector and helping them to create more jobs and where is the where is the focus for investment where which area should we focus for investment right that's if we if we invest in one sector in silos then it may not able to create jobs in across the economy that's why there has to be a balanced approach in terms of investment in the energy sector in investment in the manufacturing sector investment in the digital sector, investment in tourism sector. So all these sector that Nepal has potential should feel should get some some sort of incentive or uh confidence from the government that they can really uh move forward without hesitating about uh losing their business in next uh three next quarter or the quarter following. So the the kind of policy predictability the government has to give in in which the government should give the uh policies in a larger framework.

[00:15:38]>> Lastly, Mr. Powell, the government has launched a public suggestion collection portal for the budget process. Can initiatives like this genuinely improve policym and public trust? feedback collection loop uh normally in a budget cycle is done through ministry of finance >> but we have seen this from the prime minister's office right that may that may I'm saying that may give an impression to the larger people uh and the private sector that is is that a sign that there is no communication between ministry of finance and the prime minister's office uh and private sector normally takes ministry of finance as first line of conversation.

[00:16:24]>> Mhm.

[00:16:25]>> And if in in that case if the prime minister's office is soliciting feedback from the people in terms of fiscal bud uh fiscal budget then there would be question who should be talking to whether to prime minister's office or the ministry of finance. So that kind of confusion may be there but uh I would say in essence such an attempt is well appreciated and it should improve the budget making budget making process but that this is because in a parliamentary system also the budget session of the uh parliament should be long enough where every member of the parliament should get time to deliver and discuss the merits of each clause of the budget or whatever they want to bring. Right?

[00:17:21]That's where probably we have to wait and see how the session goes. Uh what kind of deliberations do we see? What kind of questions do we see? How parliamentarians would discuss on the budget and the policies. That's uh that is still we have to wait and see. Savvi, >> thank you for your time and insight.

[00:17:41]Sir, >> thank you very much for having me.

[00:17:47]>> That was economist VJaspel on the priorities and possible impacts of the upcoming budget. Now, as economists and citizens alike demand stronger economic policies, Nepal's government is also attempting to make the budget process more participatory through a newly launched digital platform. Nepal's office of the prime minister and council of ministers has come up with a new digital suggestion collection portal aimed at increasing public participation in the country's policy program and budget-making process for the upcoming fiscal year. The platform allows Nepali citizens, policy experts and members of the diaspora living abroad to directly submit recommendations on development priorities and government spending plans. Officials say the initiative is part of an effort to make governance more transparent, inclusive and people centered by incorporating public concerns into national policym. The prime minister's secretariat says the portal is intended to reduce the gap between citizens and the state and ensure that government decisions are not limited to bureaucratic circles alone.

[00:18:55]The system also includes a suggestion tracking feature, allowing users to monitor the status of their submissions and see whether their recommendations are being reviewed or implemented by the government.

[00:19:10]That's all from the perspective for this week. We will be back with more updates next week. Stay tuned to NTV World.