Kathmandu. Finance Minister Rameshwor Prasad Khanal has stressed the need for enhancing the capacity of capital expenditure, structural reform of tax system and coordination among economic policies to expedite the country’s economic development.

On the occasion, Finance Minister Khanal said that the economy was facing more problems of implementation than policy stability.

Speaking at an interaction program organized at Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bhairahawa today, he stressed on capital expenditure and implementation. The Finance Minister pointed out that the main economic challenge of Nepal is the capacity to spend the budget and not the size of the budget. According to him, the development works have been hampered due to weak capital expenditure.

“Our problem is not the size of the budget, the problem is the ability to spend. The delay in the capital expenditure system and the weak implementation aspect should be rectified immediately,” Khanal said. He also stressed the need of simplification of the policies and plans at every level to make them effective. He also stressed the need to maintain transparency and accountability in public expenditure and project implementation.

Accepting that the present tax system was complex and cumbersome to attract investment, Minister Khanal said that big reforms were needed in tax system. He said that an environment of trust should be established between the taxpayers and the tax administration, and the process of paying tax should be made completely digitized and unnecessary paperwork should be done away with. He said that big investment would not come unless the tax system was made simple, transparent and predictable.

On the occasion, Minister Khanal said that the private sector should be given freedom to work by trusting it as the engine of economic development. He said that the ‘one-stop service’ would be made effective to end the situation in which the government should be in the role of facilitator rather than the controller and the investors are forced to wander with files. He also stressed on the need of perfect coordination between the monetary policy and the monetary policy, pledging to keep the two policies in synchrony so as not to allow market instability.

Finance Minister Khanal said that the Bhairahawa Customs Office has initiated financial transparency by establishing a check pass examination office to institutionalize formal trade. Stating that not all entrepreneurs are bad, he argued that problems would arise due to some entrepreneurs and the relations between the businessmen and the government should be cordial and good.

Stating that the Land Management Regulations are under implementation, Finance Minister Khanal said that the government has started to manage the rules related to the agriculture sector and land plotting. He said that there is a huge possibility of extracting stones and pebbles in a way that does not harm the ecological balance. Finance Minister Khanal said that he was facilitating the full operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport, saying entrepreneurs have invested billions of rupees in different sectors after the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport.

KATHMANDU: Industrialists and businessmen have drawn the attention of Finance Minister Rameshwor Prasad Khanal to bring the Gautam Buddha International Airport into operation at the earliest. Netra Prasad Acharya, president of Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry), said investment worth billions of rupees made by the private sector has been jeopardized due to the delay in the operation of the airport.