Govt unveils Rs 236 billion budget

The buzzword is crowdsourcing to revisit the budget of Nepal

De facto when the wraps came off we’re completely dazzled by the audacity of this first budget of Nepal of the year 2008/’09.

I for one do not mean to make a mountain out of a molehill but there is what to make every body bounce like anything. But believe me I’ve really no intention to incur somebody’s displeasure; it’s not in my nature! Only I find this budget is too much spendthrift.

Today’s disposable society has nevertheless something that incites us to be shrewd judge of different aspects of life. And for that reason in some prestigious academies of finance and economy we’re taught some of those “must know” characteristics of the human activities such as to elaborate the budget of a country. Moreover, this type of exercises is very useful to know how the world makes headway in economical developments.

For the sake of increasing the nation-building capacities and extra knowledge to be away from the rigidity of mind we’re given these sorts of facilities in the Western world to avoid bundling of economics and politics together. We often use them as an optional knowledge in management. But believe me it helps us a lot to make fast decisions when we’re faced with the transfer of technology in some unknown countries.

All academies that teach economies are endowed with the bespoke template of software to facilitate our tasks to make a rapid rundown and estimate for the current macro-economy of the concerned country. Such framework becomes so handy to juggle with ciphers that sometimes we simply forget that we’re dealing with the budget of a nation!

Well, if we insert the databases known up to now, taking the EU convergence criteria as the base of feasibility you’ll soon realize that nothing is really tangible. Let me give you some of the EU convergence criteria:

Inflation (tolerable) = 3 percent
Budget deficit = 3 percent
Public debt maximum = 60 percent of the GDP. It’s always advised to have no debt at all, but the uncertainties of livelihood do not leave us without scars resulting in the accumulation of public debts.
Banking rates around 3 to 4 percent but it varies according to the ups and downs of the International market rates.
VAT = 15 percent wished with the exception of staple food, vegetables and fruits about 5 percent maximum. If you can avoid taxing some of them then you’re most welcome.
Public overall taxes must not cross the yellow line of 40 percent if you want to be competitive in the global world where different countries fight to entice the different entrepreneurs by means of cutting different taxes. Many countries like Kenya in order to drag the foreign investments into their countries have simply erased the income taxes for at least 10 years. Nowadays, we’ve every morning the splendid roses of rainbow colors grown up in Kenya! Ire land made its flagging economy prosperous by means of cutting taxes of different kinds. These countries are always winner because tax cuttings create not only the different activities but also enhance the consumption of the country resulting in growth.

In our trainings we’re taught to be always in keeping with the world trends such as in Education there is always a minimum of 33.3 percent of budget devoted to this branch, because here lays the future actors of the growth and economical developments of a healthy democracy. For more information please consult the EU budget available in the internet.

Human beings have completely changed their way of life. They no more consume what they’re used to. In Europe, albeit they’re former wheat flour eating countries, now they eat almost as much rice of different varieties as in Asian counties. We eat every time the fruits from all over the world. Folks never thought that in Europe we consumed every year as much ananas of Costa Rica, the mango of Israel or Kenya the kiwi of Newzeland than our most famous golden apple. As it’s advised to eat every day 5 types of fruits and vegetables to avoid cancer disease sometimes the Western countries simply run out of stock.

After the Soviet collapse the farms stumbled on for years producing very poor quality goods, and so many kolkhozes were privatized. Then they made a joint venture or partnership with societies like APH, a Dutch agri-indusrial group bringing in Dutch equipment and their methods. Instead of sowing into the flat earth as before, they planted only top quality potato and carrot seeds into raised ridges. The loose earth allowed the plants to grow better. Last year’s harvest was a record 30,000 kilogram per hectare; three times that of the year before. The farms made their first profit.

Despite the current baby milk scandal of mix-up of melamine (C3H6N6), a toxic synthetic resin powder in China, this country provides almost all basic wants of the EU and the US. You can hardly imagine that all those tomatoes in ketchup that we consume everyday and the red beans that we consume in various salads are produced in China. Every day we eat garlic produced in China and Argentina. We all know that corn came from Mexico, potatoes and tomatoes came from Peru and we are used to consume ginger and curcuma from Indian continent.

Already the market of pashmina has been completely taken up by China and Mongolia. They grow now thousand and thousand of Himalayan goats for the sake of pashmina and cashmere garments and pullovers. An Italian lady has monopolized the Indian side of the market of cashmere. So why do not leave the market because they’re simply covered up by some opportunists at once.

We must have the deep insight into the human heart. So why, we must try to take measures in line with the need of the time.

Politics that have to meet their promises become very generous with their provisions of the budget but they must be aware of the fact that we can no more make economy at our corner. We must keep an eye on what is going on around us. And at the same time must always learn from the experiences of others.

The interdependence of our economies straighten us from woo-woo to wow-wow. So why, the bounty-fed farmers shall be no more the neophyte for the heart and soul visionaries as well as emblematic entrepreneurs.

If the government distributes too much, as Nepal produces for the time being almost nothing, all consumption of different commodities and hardware would be imported from foreign lands. Therefore it’s simply the wrong way to increasing the external debts.

In conclusion, let us teach them how to fish instead of providing them with already caught fish. That way they won’t be hungry anymore. Why not open some school finishing centers where folks could learn the international Language English to get hold of a job immediately as India is doing for more that a couple of decades?

A stitch in time saves nine!