Good performers will receive additional budget: FM Sharma

Kathmandu, Jan. 28

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma 'Prabhakar' has said at the federal government will extend additional budgetary support to those subnational governments that perform well in capital expenditure.

"The governments that offer better services to people and perform well in mobilising development budget will have the facility of higher budget allocation," he said while speaking at a virtual meeting of the thematic intergovernmental committee on finance on Friday.

Earlier, he had made an announcement that the government expending more capital budget would receive a larger amount, according to a statement issued by his secretariat. "If you experience short of money for development projects and demand it from the federal government, you will get it when needed," he said.

He appreciated the role of local and provincial government during the COVID-19 pandemic and said that the federal government has noted their good works and would assimilate them in the next budget.

FM Sharma also assured that the demands of the provincial governments would get a policy address in the future, and the federal government would consult with the National Planning Commission and Nepal Rastra Bank for the same.

He stressed the need for a new policy to discourage the duplication of development programmes and projects.

The intergovernmental committee is formed as per the Article 22 of the Federal, Province and Local Level (Coordination and Inter-relations) Act, 2020.

The meeting was attended by the ministers for economic affairs and planning from all provinces.

They said that the provinces could not perform well in mobilising capital budget due to the mistrust among the governments at various levels, lack of rights on resources and human resources, absence of policy and plans without detailed study. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 January 2021.