April 26: The government is preparing to announce the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020/21 at a time when the country’s economy has been badly affected by the impact of coronavirus.

Informed sources told New Business Age that the government has given high priority to health infrastructure as it prepares to announce the budget which will also give special emphasis to employment, tourism, industrial sector and agriculture reeling under the effects of the pandemic.

Sources at the Finance Ministry say that the budget this time will not include populist agenda.  High-ranking officials at the ministry informed that the government is making preparations to announce the budget within the deadline of May 28 as per the constitutional provision to make the announcement one and a half months ahead of the new fiscal year.

Joint Secretary at the ministry, Uttar Kumar Khatri, said that the government has decided to allocate less budget for development purpose and focus on health services to control the spread of coronavirus as well as to increase employment opportunities.

According to him, the government is planning to spend the maximum amount on prevention and treatment of coronavirus. He said that the government will ensure that the budget for national pride projects would not be interrupted while the budget for other infrastructural development projects would be channelized toward the health sector.

The Naational Planning Commission has set a ceiling of Rs 81 billion in the upcoming budget for the Ministry of Energy and  Irrigation. The ministry had received Rs 83.49 billion in the current fiscal year. Likewise, the NPC has set a ceiling of Rs 33 billion for the Agriculture Ministry while that for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has been set at Rs 58 billion.

Meanwhile,  officials at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security say that the government is preparing to announce budget that would focus on creating employment opportunities to minimize the impact of coronavirus.

Joint Secretary at the ministry Suman Ghimire informed New Business Age that the government is doing necessary homework to announce a special package of at least Rs 10 billion for self employment.

Coronavirus has mostly affected small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and the people from the low-income group are at the receiving end due to various measures imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Tourism, construction and production-oriented sectors have also been badly affected by the impact of coronavirus. Many people dependent on these sectors have lost their jobs. Therefore, economist Keshav Acharya suggests that the government should announce programmes in the budget that would address the problems of the labourers and low-income groups and provide them immediate relief.