Kathmandu. Responding to the criticism that the budget has prioritized the middle class, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle said that it was necessary to restore the purchasing power of the middle class, the trust of private sector and the state’s spending capacity to make the present economic situation dynamic.
Responding to the questions raised by lawmakers on the budget in the House of Representatives on Thursday, he said that he was concerned that the government has not paid enough attention to the issues of the poor, farmers and workers.
He said, “Will the poor not fit into this budget? Is it incomplete to understand who the middle class is? I have taken the concerns raised by you on the issues of agriculture and labour very seriously. ’
Finance Minister Wagle said that Nepal’s economy has not been fully resilient after the COVID-19 pandemic and economic activities have been sluggish due to weak aggregate demand for the past few years.
“The confidence in the economy has not returned. The need of the hour is to shake off this sluggishness and revive economic activity,” he said.
According to him, it is imperative to bring a program to revive the demand in the current situation where private investment is sluggish and the economy is going through a recession.
“It is not realistic to describe it only as middle-class-oriented or urban class-oriented,” he said, adding that the industry, trade, tourism and employment sectors are directly affected when the purchasing power of the middle class increases or decreases. ’
“Restoring the confidence of the middle class, the confidence of the private sector, and the ability of the state to spend are the basic prerequisites for reviving the economy,” he said.
“This is not an issue of providing facilities to a particular class, it is an attempt to revive the entire economy,” he clarified.
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