Kathmandu, May 30: Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada has said that the budget of the coming fiscal year 2018/19 would be the starting point of economic and social transformation in the country.

"The government's aim is to enable the people with good education, skills, health and employment opportunities. Therefore the budget of the next fiscal is focused on those key objectives," said Dr. Khatiwada at a press meet organised by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.

He said that the major priority was the creation of jobs.

According to him, the country is a crucial juncture where it can reap the demographic dividend since the large part of the population is young.

"For the economic transformation of a family, employment is needed, and for the employment, one needs better education, skill and good health condition as well as opportunities for career growth. Hence, the budget has set the priority accordingly," he said.

Through the new estimates of government income and expenditure, Minister Dr. Khatiwada has announced to create about 500,000 fresh jobs and launch Prime Minister Employment Programme to support in youth employment.

Similarly, the budget has pledged to establish a health institution in each wards of the local units and launch citizen health programme and health insurance programme. Rs. 134.5 billion and Rs. 56.4 billion have been allocated to the Health, and education, science and technology sector respectively.

Dr. Khatiwada said that there would be emphasis on access to capital, modern technology, communication, information and resources for the people specially the entrepreneurs.

"The Prime Minister Employment Programme (PMEP) will be made effective, as practiced by other countries, so as to guarantee the employment opportunities. We will soon come up with the working procedure for the programme," he said.

According to him, the PMEP will give priority to the people below the poverty line and the families with no one employed.

He expressed hope that thee tourism and infrastructure development will create mass employment opportunities.

To involve the youth in self-employment, the budget has pledged to implement technical education from the secondary level. Additional budget has been allocated for technical education, research works at the universities and establishment of open universities.

Dr. Khatiwada said that in order to spur rapid economic growth intervention in the agriculture sector was the requisite since the sector employs about two thirds of population but contributes less than 30 per cent to the country's economy.

According to the estimates of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the agriculture and forestry sector will have only 28.21 per cent share in the economy in the current fiscal year 2017/18 which 1.15 per cent less than las year while the service and industry sector will have 57.61 per cent and 14.18 per cent contribution respectively.

"Therefore, we aim at expanding the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Programme with more investment in mechanisation, modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture," said the Minister.

He said that certain domestic industries would be protected in order to make the country self-reliant in the products such as consumption goods and construction materials.

Dr. Khatiwada said that it was possible to increase the tourist arrivals to 2 million by 2020 and hosting them in the country.

"The Gautam Buddha International Airport will be completed next year and the capacity of the Tribhuvan International Airport will be enhanced. Similarly, the domestic flights will be operated from the alternative domestic airport in Kavrepalanchowk and the airports in Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi will be upgraded so as to make them capable of operating regional flights," he said.

He also hope that the private sector would create other tourist infrastructure such as hotels and entertainment.

Tunnel construction

Dr. Khatiwada said that as the cost of road infrastructure creation was higher due to the difficult hill topography, the government had intention to promote tunnels in the roads.

Its already late to adopt the tunnel technology, he said.

He said that Equipment Leasing and Consulting Company was in the offing which will facilitate the government and the private sector in the construction of tunnels. It will reduce the road construction cost.

The Minister also said that the Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project would no more be the subject of ping pong, and the government was serious to develop it at the earliest.

He said that 8 per cent growth was realistic as the government has estimated the growth of agriculture, service and industry by 4.5 per cent, 8.5 per cent and 12 per cent respectively in the next fiscal.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 May 2018.