Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes

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Finance Minister Admits Flaws, Pledges to Amend Mistakes

June 12:  Admitting flaws in the new tax rates, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has pledged to amend the mistakes. The finance minister said that the mistake was unintentional and it occurred due to lack of time to check everything in the new laws that are subject to endorsement.

Finance Minister Sharma has drawn widespread criticism for fixing new customs duty and excise duty in the Finance Bill 2079 that is likely to threaten the domestic industries of Nepal.  

“We didn’t intend to push the industries to the brink of collapse,” the finance minister said during a meeting with a delegation of industrialists from Morang on Friday. “That is not our policy. We announced the budget after holding discussions with all stakeholders and we will try to include the suggestions of all sides as much as possible.”

According to Morang Trade Association’s Chairman Navin Rijal, the finance minister told them that government does not intend to shut down industries. The finance minister further said that the flaw occurred because he couldn’t look after everything.

Finance Minister Sharma had admitted his mistakes a day after the budget announcement on May 29 and had pledged to amend the mistakes.

Likewise, former chairman of the association Pawan Kumar Sharda said that the finance minister and the finance secretary might not have knowledge about every aspects of the budget and there might have been  some mistakes in course of preparing the new budget.

“Now I have understood the problems of all three types of industries. I have  received suggestions from various sectors. I will amend the mistakes,” Sharda quoted the finance minister as saying.

Following the assurance of the finance minister, the industrialists of Province 1 have postponed their protests.

Finance minister Sharma has also assured the sanitary pad industries of amending mistakes that threaten the existence of domestic industries that produce such pads.

“The finance minister is positive about addressing the problems that have surfaced due to the new tax-related policy adopted by the government,” said Dol Raj Adhikari, chairman of the Sanitary Pad Producers Association of Nepal.

“The finance minister has assured us that the problems will be addressed before the budget is passed by the parliament,” added Adhikari.

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