PAC issues directives to govt in economic sector

Kathmandu / Feb 6: The Public Accounts Committee of the Legislature-Parliament has issued a directive in the name of the government to carry out the contract bidding of the remaining programmes of the current fiscal year within February.

A meeting of the PAC held Monday in regard to budget implementation, spending of the reserved treasury and liquidity crunch seen in banking sectors made such direction to the government through the Chief Secretary.

PAC Chair Dor Prasad Upadhyay said that spending of the capital budget is disappointing and added that the government’s attention in this issue should be drawn.

The meeting has also directed the government, council of ministers and other ministries to prepare a modality for granting top priority to projects of national pride.

Furthermore, the PAC meeting directed the government to spend 80 per cent of the allocated budget within mid-June and the budget spending must not be more than 20 per cent in the last month of the fiscal year.

Likewise, the PAC has asked the government to take action to the irresponsible construction businesspersons and develop a mechanism to make them answerable.

The PAC has also directed the central bank to develop a policy for promoting investment in employment generation and the areas of capital formation that boosts up production and productivity.

On the occasion, Finance Secretary Dr Shantaraj Subedi said that shifting of the budget was not done by breaching the existing policies and the Finance Ministry was making maximum efforts to increase the capital expenditure.

Likewise, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dr Chiranjibi Nepal said that liquidity crisis was seen in the market due to less deposit collection in the banking sector. RSS