Finance Minister Pun directs to double revenue in current fiscal year

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Mar 21: Minister of Finance Barshaman Pun has directed subordinate bodies to double the revenue of the country in the current fiscal year. 

Addressing the meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday, Finance Minister Pun talked about a work plan to stop leakage on customs to increase revenue. 

Admitting that there is a problem with customs checkpoints, Finance Minister Pun said that they are working to improve in customs checkpoints. 

He claimed that the situation where everyone will feel the improvement in customs will come from next month. 

He committed to improving and bringing change in the internal revenue collection. Even though there was a target to increase revenue by 40 per cent, however, only around 9 per cent increments have been realized. 

There are around 1,700 kilometers of open border as Nepal is sandwiched between two economic giants China and India. 

Finance Minister Pun put a notion that problems are being witnessed because of an open border. Rather than the intention of people, the problem more is of capacity. 

He said that the government needs to preserve agriculture even though less is witnessed in the country. 

Giving the example of how India is preserving agriculture, he said that Nepal has failed to do so.

He said that a subsidy worth Rs 60 billion of fertilizer given to farmers each year should be understood as the agriculture sector put in priority.