May 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022-23) is a take-off point towards production-oriented economy from an import-based one.    
While announcing the budget in the joint session of the Federal Parliament on Sunday, the Finance Minister said the nation's economy was on the path of recovery after COVID-19 crisis and the revenue collection in the current fiscal year was satisfactory.    
According to the finance minister, poverty alleviation and maximum utilization of available natural assets and capital mobilization to create jobs are the priorities of the budget that focused on promoting production-based economy.

“Agriculture, tourism, industry and energy are the special priorities of the budget,” said Minister Sharma.    
Through the budget, the government targets to minimize the imports of grains such as rice, maize and wheat by 30 percent. In addition to this, it plans to establish 100 food warehouses across the country and implement the ‘farmers’ pension programme’. The government has decided to allocate the budget of Rs 1 billion for the seed capital under this programme.    
Enhancement of fiscal discipline, transformation of agricultural sector, innovation-based economic development, recovery of tourism sector, promotion of hydropower sector and effective administrative service are other commitments of the budget. -- RSS