National Assembly concludes deliberation on budget for FY 2025/26

KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress lawmaker Jit Jung Basnet has pointed out the need to encourage civil servants to promote good governance by controlling corruption.

Participating in the discussion on the government's annual estimate of revenue and expenditure for coming fiscal year 2025/26 at today's meeting of National Assembly (NA), Basnet expressed the view that salary of civil servants should be doubled, keeping the increasing price hike in mind. "It is necessary to increase salary of civil servants by double or threefold to control corruption as current salary is not enough for them to run their family," he argued.

Stating that budget brought by the government for coming fiscal year is balanced, Basnet said that a strong mechanism is a must for its effective implementation.

He expressed the view that an alternative route to Narayangadh-Muglin road was necessary to end vehicular movement obstruction due to flood and landslide.

Similarly, Jayanti Devi Rai of CPN (Unified Socialist) claimed that the budget has failed to address people's expectations. Saying that the government did not allocate a sufficient amount of budget for the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen, she mentioned that the country could not be self-reliant until priority is given to agriculture.

Likewise, Anjana Shakya of CPN UML stressed the need to introduce an attractive programme in agriculture targeting young people, as sustainable economic development is not possible without increasing production and productivity. She added that more than 500 startup companies have been registered in Nepal and that the number of startup companies would reach 10,000, with more than 100 unicorn companies by 2030, sharing that more than 50,000 jobs will be generated from this.

Budget failed to bring hope and enthusiasm: Opposition party lawmakers

Opposition party lawmakers have commented that the budget is not focused on solving the country's current problems, while ruling party lawmakers defended it.

Taking part in a general discussion on the budget for fiscal year 2025/26, opposition party MPs stated that the budget has not taken the right direction. CPN (US)'s Ghanashyam Rijal and Sabitri Malla; CPN (MS)'s Taraman Swanr, Suresh Kumar Ale Magar, Manarupa Sharma and Gopi Bahadur Sarki Achhami were the lawmakers from opposition parties airing their views on the budget in today's meeting.

Similarly, Nepali Congress lawmakers Krishna Prasad Poudel and Krishna Bahadur Rokaya, and CPN (UML) lawmakers Anjan Shakya and Bhagawati Neupane took part in the deliberations on the budget in today's meeting.

At the meeting, discussions on a party basis regarding the annual estimation of revenue and expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 concluded in the National Assembly today.

The next meeting of the National Assembly will be held at 1:15 pm on June 9.