Finance Minister presenting budget for FY 2024/25

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has begun presenting the annual estimates of the government’s revenue and expenditure (budget) for the fiscal year 2024/25 at the joint meeting of the federal parliament.

The government has announced the upcoming fiscal year 2024/25 as the year of economic reforms.

Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Pun stated that the next fiscal year has been designated as the year of economic reform.

According to Finance Minister Pun, the budget has been introduced to fulfil the aspirations of prosperity through new reform programmes. The budget aims at addressing issues observed in the economy over the years, including imbalances in public finance, increasing public debt, non-payment of capital expenditure, and failure to raise revenue as per the target.

Earlier today, the joint session of Parliament, originally scheduled for 1:00 pm, was delayed by two hours to address the demands of the main opposition, the Nepali Congress. They had been obstructing the House, calling for the formation of a parliamentary inquiry committee to investigate alleged misappropriation of funds by financial cooperatives.

The stalemate in the parliament was resolved after the major parties agreed on the formation of the committee and its terms of reference.

Following the joint meeting, both houses will convene separate meetings today.