By Ranju Kafle

Kathmandu, May 14: Minister for Finance and Communication and Information Technology Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada on Wednesday denied drafting partial budget for the fiscal year 2020/21. He clarified leaders and lawmakers in Federal Parliament that the government would bring full-size budget for the coming fiscal year.
Defending the principles and priorities of the budget, Dr Khatiwada said that the government would table full-size budget staying inside the constitutional framesork. “If the situation deteriorates due to COVID-19 pandemic, we will draft supplementary budget to meet additional needs,” he added.
Opposition parties like Nepali Congress, RJPN and some lawmakers of ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) had suggested the government to table partial budget instead of preparing full-sized one in the pre-budget discussions. Responding to the same he refused to buy their idea.
“Crisis due to virus pandemic is still unpredictable, economy is in great recession which is why we suggest for a partial budget,” they had told. The minister responded to the comment and said, “The future is always uncertain. We have to believe in continuous efforts,” he said.
He said that the government was working on full-sized budget with a realistic approach.
Finance Minister, who is also the spokesperson of the government, said that the government would bring the budget prioritizing the programmes of saving lives by ensuring basic health services and treatment with inclusion of resurrection packages. “Health, education and agriculture are the key sectors as you have suggested,” he mentioned.
According to him, the government would take initiative for providing basic health and education rights to the people and encourage migrant labourers and unemployed youngsters to engage in primary (production) sector of the economy.
In the context of rescuing nationals from India and overseas, the minister said that protecting their lives at the place where they are now was the best option left for the government. “Continuous diplomatic endeavours have been made with the state heads of several countries where we have agreed to provide services to foreign nationals here and asked for favour for ours at their places,” he said. According to the minister, the government had only restricted travelling in such high risk time. He said the government would bear expenses for their protection if necessary.
The minister also hinted at massive cuts in unnecessary expenses of the government. “No space will be given to the inessential expenses,” he said. Finance Minister agreed that priority paradigm shifted after COVID-19 pandemic and said that the government was aware of unstable labour market inside and outside the country.
Before this, lawmakers in both Upper and Lower House of Federal Parliament on Wednesday participated in pre-budget session and expressed their concerns about the requirements of the budget. And the pre-budget session concluded after the minister responded to their queries.
Parliament Secretariat has also published the date for the presentation of policy and programme for the coming fiscal year. According to that, President Bidya Devi Bhandari will present government’s policy and programme for the year of 2020/21 in the joint session of the Federal Parliament on Friday evening.