June 2: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has claimed that budget is a guiding document for every sector. Responding to the queries raised by the lawmakers in the National Assembly meeting on Wednesday, Minister Sharma informed that budget was increased by 9.68 percent this year. Generally, the budget is increased by 10 percent every year.    
“Resources must be mobilized well for boosting production and productivity,” he said, adding that budget has focused well on commercialization of agriculture    
However, cooperation from all three layers of government is imperative to fully explore agricultural potential, the minister argued.    
The priority to agriculture is given both in policies and programmes and the budget, he said, adding that time has come for us to increase industries to prop up national economy.    
Moreover, the minister said that the government would provide incentives for export but not grant.    
He argued that budget was focused on creation of employment and solution of present problems relating to it. “The scheme of pension to farmers was raised for respecting farmers and agriculture,” he added.    
As the COVID-19 subsided, there is huge potential of tourism, said the minister. If the infrastructures were set up in Everest region, it would help boost tourism, he asserted.    
Similarly, he informed that the budget had incorporated the issues of distributing land ownership certificates to the landless and prioritizing cooperatives to link with production.    
According to Finance Minister Sharma, adequate and utilizable budget was allocated to the national pride projects. The budget to be sent to the lower tiers of government was increased by 11 percent, minister Sharma clarified. -- RSS