MoFA, MoCIT hold discussions on budget

• Finance Minister stresses importance of modernising postal service

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) held discussions with Finance Ministry on policies and programmes, and budget for the fiscal year 2022/23. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, Communication Secretary Baikuntha Aryal, members of the budget-writing committee and others were present at the discussion. In the meeting, the MoCIT gave a presentation on the issues to be included in the policies and programmes, and budget. Finance Minister Sharma directed to bring an action plan to modernise the postal service, and include it in the next year's budget. He gave an example of the progress made by the private sector and opined that the postal service should be modernised. Communications Secretary Aryal also gave a presentation and said the postal service has to be improved. Finance Minister Sharma suggested that the authorities could even force old manpower to retire and recruit new manpower to run the postal service in a new way. The Communication Ministry proposed that post offices should also be used on e-commerce platforms. In response to the Communication Ministry's proposal to build a film city in Dolakha, Finance Minister Sharma suggested finding suitable partners and bringing programmes and budget. The ministry also proposed to make a provision that all government bodies deduct 3% of the amount paid for the advertisement and deposit the deducted amount in the fund of Advertisement Board. "There will be no pressure on the budget allocation for Public Welfare Advertisement if there is an arrangement to deduct 3% of the amount paid for advertisement from all the offices and deposit it in the fund," said Aryal. Minister Karki suggested the government should focus on economic development by including only the concrete issues in the next budget. He said the budget should give a new direction to the country's economy. READ ALSO:

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