Govt policies and programmes: Economic upliftment emphasized

KATHMANDU: The government has made public the policies and programs for the coming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure sector. Addressing a joint session of the Federal Parliament Tuesday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari made public the policies and programmes of the government. The 145-point programme highlights the fact that remittance income has improved over the past few months and the growth in tourism revenue has been creating a positive environment, despite the external pressures on the economy due to the unfavourable conditions resulting from the Covid 19 pandemic. Achieving economic growth and sustainability through the combination of fiscal and monetary policy, the government has outlined agricultural transport, energy, tourism and information technology as the drivers of economic growth. The government has adopted a clear policy of building a resilient economy through special economic recovery programmes and keeping inflation within the required limits. The policies and programmes of the government will implement projects from the provincial and local levels except for mega projects of national pride, transformation and strategic importance. For that, the fiscal transfer will be made on practical basis at province and local levels. The government plans to conserve, use and distribute natural resources equitably in coordination between the federal, provincial and local levels. The basis of economic prosperity will be laid by linking local economies with the national economy. The government aims to make policy, legal and systemic reforms to increase domestic production and industrialisation by building quality infrastructure, promoting investment, and creating and facilitating business environment. It will implement other suitable investment and construction structures of public-private partnership for the construction of large and strategically important infrastructure and industrial development. The policies and programmes has given clear guidelines to include development programmes and projects with the budget on the basis of national priorities. The budget will not be allocated for projects that have not been prepared beforehand and have not been included in the project bank. The government has given priority to reviewing the existing tax system, creating a clean, transparent and investment-friendly environment, and facilitating local revenue mobilization. It plans to facilitate credit flow in manufacturing and employment-oriented sectors. For the first time, the government has addressed the issue of developing the agricultural sector as a major driver of economic growth and employment and formulating a new national agricultural policy. A special programme will be implemented for the mid-term review of Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernisation Project, utilisation of barren land, promotion of value chain based collective and cooperative farming, increase in production of crops like paddy, maize, potato, onion and apple. BY RSS READ ALSO:

• At least two medical colleges to be established in each province
• Pashupatinath, Janakpur, Lumbini to be developed as religious tourism hub
• Economic growth through fiscal and monetary policy
• Investors to be attracted to manufacturing productive sector
• Prez Bhandari presents govt’s policies and programmes at parliament