Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has started presenting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26 at the joint session of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly of the federal parliament on Thursday.

During his budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year, Finance Minister Paudel acknowledged that the country’s politics had become unexpectedly unstable in recent years.

He said the instability had hampered service delivery, governance, and development, making it difficult to meet national needs and public expectations.

Finance Minister Paudel said that maintaining good governance in the country is a challenge.

“Service delivery has not improved as expected because public administration has not been professionalised,” he said.

“There is a challenge to maintain good governance due to delays in public service, lack of accountability, and weak coordination among agencies.”

He said the lack of digital infrastructure has slowed the growth of the digital economy.

“The expected benefits from service exports through tourism and information technology have not been realised,” he said.

The government’s revised estimate shows total spending for the current fiscal year will reach Rs1.662 trillion, which is 89.4 percent of the allocated budget.

According to the revised figures, 88.8 percent of recurrent expenditure, 63.5 percent of capital expenditure, and 97.6 percent of the allocation for financial management are expected to be spent.

Earlier today, a meeting of the Council of Ministers endorsed the new fiscal budget.

The opposition parties, which have been obstructing the Parliament since Tuesday, have allowed the House to run for the budget presentation as per the mandatory constitutional provision.

The constitution has made it mandatory to unveil the country’s budget on Jestha 15 (this year on May 29) every year.

The opposition bloc has been obstructing the House of Representatives, demanding the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak over his alleged link to the ‘visit visa scam’.