Ministry of Finance completes LMBIS entry of budgetary programmes, ongoing projects on top priority

May 18, 2021, 01:32:51 PM |

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has completed entry of all programmes being incorporated in the budget for 2021-22 fiscal year in the Line Ministry Budgetary Information System (LMBIS).

With less than two weeks left for the government to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in the parliament, the Finance Ministry has expedited budget-making process. “Every finalized programmes for the next budget has already been entered in LMBIS and initial draft/framework of the budget has been prepared already,” informed an official at MoF.

The Ministry of Finance had sought necessary projects and programmes to be incorporated in the budget with different Ministries. As of now, all programmes proposed by different Ministries have been analyzed, discussed, finalized and entered in the LMBIS.

LMBIS is online programme submission system in the budget which has created direct link between line ministries program budget formulation and implementation with cooperation and coordination with Ministry of Finance and the National Planning commission. This system is interlinked and interfaced with the Budget Management Information System (BMIS) of the MoF.

MoF officials said that majority of programmes that has been entered in the LMBIS and will be presented in the upcoming budget are ongoing programmes/projects while few new programmes and projects have also been introduced.

Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel has attempted to tried to incorporate suggestions of all parties/stakeholders in the budget this year. According to the information given by the MoF officials, for the first time in the history, Finance Minister has held discussions with the officials of rural municipalities, municipalities, district coordination committee and local level people’s representatives regarding budget and their requirements.

Along with this, Minister Poudel has completed pre-budget discussion with representative organizations of the private sector including Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), among others. Similarly, Poudel has also consulted with former finance ministers, economists and intellectuals regarding the budget.

Finance Minister Poudel has taken the initiative to make the budget as acceptable as possible and to address the health and economic problems caused by the pandemic. He had also held separate discussions with the lawmakers of the ruling CPN-UML, the main opposition party Nepali Congress and the opposition Rastriya Janata Party.

According to MoF officials, the technical work of budget preparation has been completed while policy issues are being discussed at the highest official level.

“The ministry is engaged in in-depth discussions on what kind of strategies and programs the federal government should bring to deal with the situation after the spread of Covid-19 pandemic,” said the MoF official.

Fiscal Nepal |

Tuesday May 18, 2021, 01:32:51 PM |