Budget on May 3 impossible: Speaker Nemwang

Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang has advised the government that it is impossible to announce budget for the next fiscal year on May 3 by completing all the required procedures. Speaker Nemwang told finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari Thursday that it would take it would take more than a month to complete all the procedures to announce the budget. First, the ongoing winter session of the parliament needs to be prorogued and a budget session summoned as budget cannot be announced in winter session. There is a tradition of having a gap of at least a week between two parliamentary sessions to allow the lawmakers visit the constituencies, said Nemwang.

Likewise, there needs to be a gap of about three weeks between the presentation of policies and programmes of the government and announcement of the budget for pre-budget discussion in the parliament. At a meeting with finance minister Adhikari, Nemwang advised him that it will not be possible to announce the budget before mid-May if the processes are followed even with least possible time. The government had decided earlier this week to announce budget on May 3.