What's new in budget for upcoming FY 2025/26?

KATHMANDU: The budget for upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 has been presented in the Federal Parliament. Although the country's economy is gradually improving, it has not yet fully embarked on a path to complete recovery. In such circumstances, it is natural for everyone to be interested in the kind of budget the government will introduce.

Below are some important projects and programmes included in the upcoming fiscal year's budget:

– Increased financial transfers to provincial and local levels
– Economic growth target of 6%
– Inflation to be kept within the desired limit of 5.5%
– Self-sufficiency in rice within two years
– Government employees to receive a monthly inflation allowance of Rs 5,000 from July
– Old age allowance eligibility age set at 70 years
– Provision to fix support prices for crops 15 days before the planting season
– Production of 42.8 million fish fingerlings and distribution of 1 million fruit saplings
– Land ownership certificates for 500,000 families within the coming fiscal year
– Policy against keeping land barren, with at least 100 local levels establishing land banks
– Deposit insurance for cooperative savings up to Rs 500,000
– Establishment of a Cooperative Debt Recovery Tribunal
– Issue of a state facility identity card within the upcoming fiscal year
– 'Bhagat Sarvajit Udhyamshilta Bikas' programme targeting the Dalit community
– Three-year rent exemption for new industries in special economic zones and industrial areas; rent reduced for existing industries
– Industries within the Kathmandu Valley to be relocated outside
– Provision for foreign investors in Nepal to lease buildings or apartments
– Commencement of project development agreements (PDA) worth Rs 700 billion and project construction worth Rs 400 billion within the coming year
– Permission for Nepali entrepreneurs or companies to open branches abroad
– Permission to invest 25% of annual income from exports abroad
– Provision for Nepali citizens to acquire sweat shares in overseas companies
– Commercial production from the Dailekh petroleum mine
– Organisation of an international summit related to mining products
– Policy of bioethanol blending in petrol
– Expansion of consumer courts in all provinces
– Income tax exemption for hotels and resorts, similar to that provided for productive industries
– Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) to be developed into a boutique airport
– Construction at the Nijgadh Airport site to proceed
– Construction of a provincial airport in the Surkhet district
– Construction of the Panini Knowledge Garden in the Arghakhanchi district
– Ban on the use of plastics thinner than one micron from November
– Formulation of the second edition of the Digital Nepal Framework
– Preparation of the foundation for Nepal's satellite establishment
– Construction of studios for film shooting
– Operation of an employment portal
– Operation of 'on-the-job' and 'apprenticeship' programmes
– Incentive programmes based on academic results in 100 schools
– Policy of merging schools and revision of teacher quotas
– Establishment of a teachers' bank
– Operation of Sahid Dasharath Chand Health Science University
– Payment of outstanding health insurance amounts within one year
– Expansion of heart disease and cancer treatment in all provinces
– Establishment of a specialised burn treatment department in at least one government hospital in each province
– Introduction of a national volunteer identity card for youth above 16 years of age
– Operation of sports academies in at least three schools in each province
– At least 33% women in public sector executive positions
– Rehabilitation centres for victims of violence in Madhesh, Sudurpashchim and Kathmandu
– Observation of a National Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Untouchability every year on Jestha 21
– Completion of all rural electrification work within two years
– Feasibility study of green hydrogen
– Completion of the Nagdhunga and Siddhababa Tunnel construction within the upcoming fiscal year
– Feasibility study of a podway as an alternative to the Kathmandu-Hetauda ropeway
– Detailed feasibility study for the construction of the East-West Railway
– DPR for the Kathmandu-Keyrong railway within one year
– Establishment of 'Neo Bank' within fiscal year 2025/26
– Establishment of a Rs 1 billion fund for investigation, relief and reparation of armed conflict incidents
– Introduction of contribution-based social security for contract employees and temporary and relief teachers