With hardly three weeks left for the government to bring the federal budget for the next fiscal year 2023/24, the government on Wednesday replaced the Finance Secretary. Transferring the incumbent Finance Secretary Toyam Raya to the Office of the Vice President, Arjun Pokharel has been brought in at the Finance Ministry. The reshuffle of the top bureaucratic post in the Finance Ministry was doing rounds in the past few weeks in Singha Durbar after Dr. Prakash Saran Mahat was appointed as the Finance Minister. However, the replacement of the finance secretary ahead of the federal budget has invited more questions at a time when the government is drafting a new budget amid a severe resource crunch. Economists say that given the current state of the economy, the next federal budget should be prepared with utmost planning and that frequently replacing the Finance Secretary doesn't augur well for the budget preparations and the country’s economy. In fact, the Finance Ministry has seen four secretaries over the past year.

When FY 2022/23 started, Madhu Marasini was the Finance Secretary. However, he left the ministry following a dispute with the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma. Then, Krishna Hari Pushkar was appointed to the post and replaced by Toyam Raya later when the new government was formed after the parliamentary elections and Bishnu Poudel became the Finance Minister. Poudel brought in Raya as new Finance Secretary who hardly spent four months at the ministry before he was replaced by Arjun Pokharel.

Hard hit by the resource crunch, the government is not in a situation to announce new programs and projects in the next fiscal year's budget. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has also recommended the government to reduce the budget ceiling. Given the mismatch between revenue collection and expenditure, the NPC has set a limit of Rs 1,688.4bn for the next year's federal budget. The government has set a target of raising Rs 1403bn in revenue in this fiscal year. However, in the first 10 and half months, it has succeeded to collect only Rs 713bn which is only 50.84 percent of the target. With revenue worth Rs 2.5bn being collected daily, it looks quite impossible to meet the revenue collection target in the next 70 days. Economists are of the view that since the revenue collection has been very poor in this fiscal year, there is no possibility to increase the revenue estimate for the next fiscal year. They say, if there is no increment in revenue, there will be no space to bring more programs. While the current situation demands a prudent budget, the developments in recent weeks including bringing in a new finance secretary suggest the Finance Ministry could succumb to the pressure of the political leadership. Sources at the NPC and Finance Ministry said there has been pressure on them to increase the budget ceiling. Lawmakers and political leaders have been asking for special projects, especially in their constituencies. The Nepali Congress lawmakers have already asked the finance minister to reintroduce the highly controversial Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program, popularly known as the 'constituency development fund'. As per the constitutional obligation, the government has to present the federal budget on Jestha 15 (May 29). With only 24 days left for the budget presentation in the parliament, the Finance Secretary has many tasks, including preparing crucial documents such as the government's policies and programs, economic survey, and economic act, apart from the budget. Analysts say the new finance secretary will have limited time to grasp the severity of the situation and prepare such documents. "Bringing a new person as Finance Secretary just ahead of the budget will not give a good signal," said economist Keshav Acharya. "There is very little time for the new finance secretary." According to him, the need of the hour is an experienced and responsible person in the Ministry of Finance who can convince the Prime Minister, Ministers, and other stakeholders.