Finance Minister unveils annual budget for 2021/22

Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel on Saturday announced the annual budget of Rs 1.647 trillion (Rs 1,647,570,000,000) for the upcoming fiscal year 2021/22. The new budget is 11.73 per cent bigger than the budget of Rs 1,474.64 billion announced for the fiscal year 2020/21.

Here are some primary highlights of the new budget:

HEALTH

1. Rs 4 billion budget allocated to procure health kits and medical equipment to fight COVID-19
2. Rs 26.55 billion allocated for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines
3. Continuity of the risk allowance to all frontline health workers directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients
4. Government to bear 50% of the total cost required to install oxygen generation plants at hospitals with more than 100 beds
5. Customs fees and VAT exempted on import of medical supplies related to COVID-19.
6. Infectious disease hospitals to be established in all seven provinces

DISCOUNTS

7. Fee waiver for households on consumption of 20,000 liters of drinking water a month
8. 20 percent discount on daily essentials
9. Fully fee waiver on electricity to households consuming up to 20 units of electricity and 50 percent waiver on households using up to 50 units of electricity per month during the period of prohibitory orders
10. 20% discount on rice, flour, lentils, salt, cooking oil, sugar and LPG sold by Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation during the prohibitory orders
11. Private businesses using state-owned buildings to get 50 percent discount on house rent during the prohibitory orders
12. Reinsurance scheme to be given continuity in the new fiscal year to help businesses hit hard by COVID-19
13. Incentives to hotels that are shut due to COVID-19 pandemic or are turned into isolation centers
14. All members of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) to be provided free of cost treatment in all state-owned hospitals, provision of accident insurance worth Rs 700,000 for journalists
15. Customs duty on the import of induction oven set at 1 percent to discourage use of LPG gas
16. Taxpayers earning Rs 2 million per year to get 90% waiver on tax, Rs 2 million to Rs 5 million to get 75% and Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million to get 50% waiver on income tax
17. Only 1% income tax to be levied on hospitality industry, aviation industry, travel, trekking, transport and cinema industries affected by COVID-19 pandemic
18. New businesses will receive 50 percent income tax exemption for first year and 25 percent tax exemption in the second year
19. Excise duty raised on beer, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products

TOURISM

20. Government to provide free visas to foreign tourists for one month to promote tourism
21. GPS tracking system to be implemented on trekking routes
22. Budget allocated for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhyapuri of Chitwan
23. Government to launch NTV World channel to expand Nepal’s reach globally
24. TIA to bring advanced passenger information system into use, and make visa available via QR codes to make immigration service systematic and of international level

EDUCATION

25. A separate educational channel to be launched by state-owned Nepal Television
26. Broadband internet service to be expanded to 60 percent public schools within the new fiscal year
27. Rs 10 billion allocated for President Education Reform Program
28. Government to provide a loan of upto Rs 80,000 to students to buy one laptop each at 1 percent interest rate

DEVELOPMENT

29. Rs 400 million allocated for skill development training
30. Senior citizen allowance raised to Rs 4,000 per month, 33 percent increment in all types of social security allowances
31. Rs 12 billion allocated for the implementation of Prime Minister Employment Program
32. Government to introduce ‘Made in Nepal and Make in Nepal’ campaign
33. Use of plastic bags less than 40 microns to be banned from next fiscal year
34. Rs 2.46 billion allocated for the construction of Sunkoshi Marine Diversion Project
35. Government to export water from the Himalayan region
36. Rs 2.77 billion allocated for the development of industrial infrastructures
37. Rs 14 billion allocated for the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security
38. Rs 1.20 billion allocated for the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens
39. Poverty Alleviation Fund dissolved. The amount generated by the Fund to be mobilized through cooperative organizations
40. Youths to be provided upto Rs 2.5 million loan at 5 percent interest rate
41. New laws to be formulated to regulate e-commerce businesses
42. Rs 3.51 billion allocated for Melamchi Drinking Water Project; Rs 4.79 billion allocated for maintenance of distribution system
43. Ministry of Water Supply gets Rs 43.54 billion budget
44. Rs 37.61 billion allocated for developing electricity transmission lines and substations
45. Rs 2.76 billion allocated for alternative energy promotion
46. Rs 4.7 billion allocated for the construction of Butwal-Gorakhpur cross-border transmission line and preparation for the construction of Kohalpur-Lucknow transmission line
47. Rs 1.52 billion allocated to give continuity to Tarai-Madhesh Prosperity Program
48. 120 border outposts of APF to be built along the country’s international borders to control illegal movements and crime
49. Government to issue national identity cards to 7 million Nepalis in the next fiscal year, all Nepalis to get national ID cards within next two years

AGRICULTURE

50. Government to buy agricultural products for farmers to encourage them for farming
51. Rs 7.60 billion allocated for concessional loans to farmers
52. Continuation of 50 percent subsidies in farm insurance premium
53. Rs 12 billion will be allocated for the establishment of chemical fertilizers.
54. Rs 45.09 billion allocated for the agriculture sector
55. Budget for irrigation and water resource management increased to Rs 31.86 billion
56. As many as 15 million seedlings to be planted in Chure and Tarai Madhes areas under the afforestation program

TRANSPORTATION

57. Minimum 100 electric vehicles to be brought into operation in coordination with Sajha Yatayat in the Kathmandu Valley
58. Flyovers to be built at Gwarko, Satdobato and Ekantakuna within the new fiscal year in order to ease traffic jams.
59. 500 charging stations, terminal buildings and other infrastructures to be built across the country with involvement of the private sector
60. Rs 10.3 billion allocated for the development of railways in the country
61. Tunnel way to be constructed along Tinkune-Jadibuti section of the road in Kathmandu
62. Railway service to be brought into operation in Jainagar-Janakpur, Biratnagar-Jogbani border area with India
63. Rs 10.3 billion allocated for railway; International consultants to be hired for the study of the possibility of metro rail and urban cable car in Kathmandu Valley
64. As many as 300 bridges to be built within the new fiscal year
65. Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to get Rs 163.36 billion budget
66. Customs duty on home appliances like washing machines and dishwashers reduced to encourage use of electronic appliances
67. Khiji Chandeshwari Airport in Okhaldhunga to be brought into operation within the new fiscal year
68. Govt allocates Rs 3.53 billion to complete Gautam Buddha International Airport, Rs 1.33 billion allocated for domestic airports
69. Rs 2.64 billion for expansion and development of Ring Road, flyovers in different sections to be constructed
70. Suketar Airport in Taplejung to be renamed as Rabindra Adhikari Airport and Chuwandanda Airport in Terhathum as Aang Tshering Sherpa Airport