Kathmandu, May 25
The current time has been turbulent for
everyone with the mounting cases of coronavirus in the country. Businesses and
industries are closed, people’s movements paused, workers have lost their jobs
and are forced to stay home, and most development works have been stalled
indefinitely.
Meanwhile, contractors say the public construction
work cannot be resumed before November this year and business leaders have stressed
on an economic stimulus equal to 5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP).
The economy is severely hit by the
coronavirus pandemic when the development work was gaining momentum with the completion
of first half of the Fiscal Year 2019/2020 and the government has managed to
collect only Rs 612.83 billion revenue of targeted Rs 1112.03 billion while only
Rs 667.75 billion is spent against the target of Rs 1532.9 billion by May 24,
with merely one-and-a-half months of the year remaining. The economic growth
target is lowered to 2.28 per cent from the earlier projection of 8.5 per cent.
Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada is
presenting the budget on Thursday at the Federal Parliament amidst these
uncertainties and coronavirus pandemic inflating the crisis in future. He has a
challenge to allocate the scanty resources to traditional development sectors
and necessities created by the pandemic that need an immediate address or
overhaul.
The first challenge Dr Khatiwada has to
face is the revival of the economy through the rehabilitation of business and
restoration as well as creation of jobs. Months-long lockdown has severed about
2.5 million people from their jobs in and out of the country.
The country that is reeling from years of
resource constraints cannot go on with relief distribution for long, so it must
focus on reviving the business activities and creating jobs. When people get
jobs, government's burden for relief distribution will automatically be
reduced.
Private sector organisations – Federation
of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese
Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce and various commodity and sectoral
associations – have, for weeks, been urging the government to facilitate them
in resuming the industries and businesses.
Although the Cabinet had decided to allow
the industry to open, lack of policy guideline in reviving the supply chain,
import of raw materials, financial arrangement and lockdown in India has
discouraged the entrepreneurs. Only about a quarter of industries, primarily those
dealing in food, medicine and other essential items, are in operation but just
about 40 per cent of their capacity.
Despite experiencing decades of neglect,
agriculture is the primary sector that can accommodate a large number of
workers and businesses. The main opposition party Nepali Congress in its budget
recommendations to the government has suggested promoting agriculture and
tourism for job creation and providing at least 100-day employment to the
people who lost their jobs. An individual can earn Rs 51,700 from that job.
Former Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat
said that local infrastructure development programmes can employ about 700,000
people. Better economic cooperation between the federal and local governments
can help in effective mobilisation of resources and execution of works that can
generate employment.
Likewise, bringing the cottage, small and
medium scale industries into operation is critical to the economy as this
sector employs the largest number of people after agriculture. "The
government should provide concessional loan to the youth, including the
foreign-returnees, on the basis of skills they possess. Foreign Employment
Welfare Fund should be mobilised in this programme," said the NC.
But the government should first have a
database of the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled youth, and foreign-returnee
workers. Finance Committee of the Federal Parliament has suggested establishing
a Rs 50 billion fund for youth employment. After discussions with multiple
government agencies including the National Planning Commission, the committee
said that the development of agriculture sector can address the demand for job
and food security.
The Federation of Nepalese Cottage and
Small Industry's recommendation to support group enterprise and promote cottage
and small industries by the local governments can also be effective in creating
jobs.
Establishment of cold storage, agriculture
processing industries, increased use of machines in the field and efficient
market linkages can propel the primary sector as an enterprising sector.
In his document of Principles and
Priorities of the upcoming budget, Finance Minister Dr Khatiwada has hinted at the
rehabilitation of lost jobs, and support for small and medium enterprises,
agriculture and service sector to create more jobs.
He also said that the budget would give
priority to the family, social and economic interest of the worker and invent
labour-intensive programmes to engage the informal sector workers. He has a
couple of days to stand true to his promises.
No comments:
Post a Comment