Sudurpashchim government presents Rs 37.7 billion budget

The Sudurpashchim provincial government has presented a budget of Rs 37.70 billion for the current fiscal year. Economic Affairs Minister Chakra Bahadur Malla introduced the budget during a Provincial Assembly meeting on Sunday.

The budget prioritizes agriculture, tourism, and health, while also allocating resources for infrastructure development, education, energy, social justice, and employment generation. Funding is expected to be sourced through Rs 1.72 billion in internal revenue, Rs 10.249 billion from federal revenue-sharing, and Rs 9.063 billion in fiscal equalization grants from the federal government. Other sources include conditional grants, special grants, and savings from the previous fiscal year.

This budget presentation follows the collapse of the previous administration. A prior budget proposal presented in June failed to reach the discussion stage due to political disputes, which eventually led to the formation of a new coalition government supported by the CPN and CPN-UML.