A budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. An annual budget has been presented in Nepal since the 1950s, after the end of the Rana Regime. The first annual budget of Nepal was presented in 1951 and covered the period from March 1951 to February 1952. The budgets that have followed the initial one are prepared for the Nepali fiscal year, which runs from July to June.

Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada presented Nepal’s first federal budget of Rs 1.31 trillion in the parliament for the fiscal year 2018/19 on May 29, 2018. The federal budget has allocated Rs 113.43 billion to seven provinces and Rs 195.05 billion to 753 local bodies as equalisation and conditional grants. Of the total budget, Rs 845 billion would be spent under the current expenditure, while Rs 313 billion under the capital expenditure. In order to manage the annual expense, the revenue sources would account for Rs 831 billion, while the foreign aid to account Rs 58.81 billion. The government has allocated Rs 56.41 billion for health sector, Rs 134 billion for science, technology and education, Rs 33.71 billion for the agricultural sector, Rs 5.20 billion for the development of tourism and Rs 83.89 billion for energy.

The annual budget of 2018/19 aims to achieve eight percent of economic growth rate in the upcoming fiscal year. This year’s economic growth rate is amended to 5.9 percent against the target of 7.2 percent made while announcing the budget last year. The nation had achieved economic growth rate of 6.9 percent in the fiscal year 2073/074 BS. The government has taken initiative to promote employment of youths in the country through The Prime Minister Employment Program. This programme will be connected to commercial agriculture, irrigation, drinking water, river control, forest, tourism, transport infrastructure and other public construction sectors that are executed by three levels of the government. In order to attract youths in businesses, the government has made arrangements to provide a loan of up to Rs 700,000 against the collateral of an academic certificate. The government has allocated over Rs three billion for this programme and aims to provide jobs to 500,000 Nepalis in the next fiscal year. With effective implementation of this program, there will be a lot of employment opportunities in the country and productive youths will not feel the need to travel abroad for jobs. When youths stay in the country and work here, there will be a good supply of human resources to fulfill development needs.

Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Raj Bista, who was recently in Geneva of Switzerland to take part in the 107th Session of International Labor Conference, held a meeting with ILO Director General Guy Ryder on Tuesday and made a request towards that end. Joint-Secretary at the Ministry (Labor, Employment and Social Security) Ram Prasad Ghimire who is also in the Minister’s delegation to the ILO Conference said that Nepal received a positive response regarding its request to help Nepal create more jobs in the country. The Prime Minister Employment Program could be a turning point in the trend of Nepali youths going abroad to find employment opportunities. With the youth receiving loans for starting businesses, they will be encouraged which will cause employment opportunities to multiply. With the joint effort and willingness of people to bring prosperity and development in the country and help from the government, there will surely be a time when Nepali youths will not be forced to leave their homes for employment.

Mishra is an A-Level student at Budhanilakantha School