Editorial: Whither austerity?

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat presented a budget of Rs 1,1751.31bn for the fiscal year 2023/24. The budget has made some lofty plans like reducing recurrent expenses, doing away with 20 public enterprises of similar business nature (of course, the list does not include the gas-guzzling Nepal Oil Corporation that hardly generates any profit despite being the sole importer and the distributor of petroleum products in a country that can receive great green dividends by opting for the generation of hydropower for domestic consumption by mobilizing domestic capital), promoting startups, refraining from bringing populist schemes—this, of course, does not include the Constituency Development Fund that gives wily lawmakers an opportunity to do their very own ‘Vikas’ while ‘developing’ their respective constituencies—easing the business environment, not buying vehicles and not constructing new buildings unless absolutely necessary, abolishing all kinds of ‘extra’ allowances and incentives and prioritizing agriculture, tourism and development projects. All these are but some of the measures meant to revive a national economy that has been on sickbed, particularly since the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, with things worsening further after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. The measures sound good, don’t they? But where will the money come from? Digging deeper into the taxpayer’s pocket, money will surely come. If that doesn’t suffice, what are our dear foreign friends for? Even in times of a serious economic crisis, they will surely say: Their need is greater than mine. Our government is pretty sure they will. That’s why, it aims to get Rs 49.94bn in foreign grants. Add to it the revenue target of Rs 1248.62bn. Hopefully, these measures will spare our political honchos the trouble of having to cut down on their pay and their tip-to-toe services even as desperate times like these call for austerity measures at the top, a cutdown on administrative expenses and more investment toward development and job creation. Analysts have been saying for quite some time that a serious global economic crisis lies ahead, but our political leadership seems confident that it will be a smooth ride for the national economy all along. Austerity is not in the dictionary of national leadership, it appears. Otherwise, would it not have embarked on a foreign visit leading a core team instead of a jumbo team, barely two days after the passage of the budget? Here’s hoping that the leadership takes austerity more seriously after returning home.