It was aimed at preventing the country from falling into the state of a fiscal void after the ordinance budget expires on January 15.[break]
The newly appointed minister without portfolio Bishnu Paudel tabled the bills -- Finance Bill, Appropriation Bill, Bill to Mobilize National Debt and Loan and Guarantee (18th amendment) Bill -- on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, who is also entrusted to look after Ministry of Finance. The bills were tabled amid differences between CPN (UML) and UCPN (Maoist) over power sharing that has affected the formation of a full cabinet.
The Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government had announced budget worth Rs 337.90 billion for the fiscal year 2010/11 on November 20. As the existing law requires the ordinance be endorsed within 60 days of the commencement of the parliament session, the new government needs to get it ratified by the parliament by February 15.
The failure would automatically lead to revocation of the ordinances, pushing the country back to the prior-budget state. It will annul all the changes the government effected on tax rates and restrict the government from mobilizing domestic borrowings, among others.
“Tabling of bills has raised hopes over continuity of the present budget,” said an official of Ministry of Finance. However, it is still unclear how the parliament will respond to the proposal. The government has also remained silent on whether it will continue with the present budget for the remaining five months of this fiscal year.
“The present political discourse has not entered into that dialogue. We anticipate the situation to be clear once the Finance Minister officially takes charge of the office,” said the source.
Nonetheless, MoF is pushing the government to let the present budget prevail for the remaining part of the fiscal year, especially as a step otherwise will cost the development dearly. “If the government wishes to announce its own programs and priorities, our suggestion to it is to go for an early budget for the next fiscal year,” said the source.
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