Kathmandu July 13 : Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said the Ministry of Finance is consciously committed to minimizing the arrears which remains as a big problem. Stating that arrears are seen due to the irregularities in decisions when several tax-payers have moved court, he expressed the government’s commitment of maintaining the overall fiscal discipline and stopping the irregularities from increasing.

The Finance Minister said this while responding to questions raised during deliberations on various headings of the Finance Ministry included in the Appropriation Bill, 2080 BS, in the today’s meeting of the National Assembly. According to the Finance Minister, since the arrears are in different forms, it cannot be said that all amount in arrears is misused. He reiterated that he is fully committed to controlling the economic anarchy.

The Finance Minister informed the upper house of the Federal Parliament that money has been kept in the Contingency Fund to manage the required funds for emergency purpose and for spending in urgent works within the country. In response to questions raised by lawmakers that more budget has been allocated under the Miscellaneous heading, he said the budget under this heading has been kept to manage money to be spend during emergency times and crises. Minister Mahat also expressed commitment to go by the letter and spirit of the suggestions furnished by the National Assembly members. Giving assurances that fiscal discipline would be maintained and not to have any doubt over it, he said the government has already begun initiatives for addressing problems seen in budget implementation.

The Finance Minister added that he could not stop the tendency of scattering the budget this time though he had tried to do so. He shared that the money raised from petroleum charge and meant for the Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project has been spent in providing compensation to the Budhugandaki project affected people. As he said, the process for establishing a company has been moved ahead for the construction of this project.

The Finance minister claimed that he has made sincere efforts to resolving problems resulting from mismanagement. He informed that the budget of the federal government has been decreased more and that of the provincial governments in less quantity owing to the low income.