Minister Wagle Urges Not to Over-Interpret Technical Corrections in Budget Bill
Kathmandu. Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has clarified that some errors found in the Economic Bill presented to the parliament were corrected in accordance with the law. He stated that those errors were human oversights made at the staff level, and he takes full responsibility for them.
Speaking at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee under the House of Representatives on Thursday, Minister Wagle mentioned that since the budget formulation process is highly sensitive and carried out under intense time pressure, minor errors can occur.
He said, "After presenting the estimates of income and expenditure through the budget statement, the Economic Bill was tabled in parliament, and the errors appeared because some procedural work was done in a hurry after that."
According to him, the staff had worked for long hours, and due to working under pressure in the final stages, some ambiguities and technical errors occurred. He stated that after those errors were identified later, the concerned staff requested corrections, and amendments were made lawfully accordingly.
Giving examples of such amendments being made in previous years as well, the Minister clarified that necessary corrections were made this year too. He said that ambiguities were seen in some provisions related to taxes and duties, and missing topics were included in some places.
Particularly regarding customs duties, he mentioned that carriers transporting health supplies like blood and vaccines were previously classified as general goods, but since they are directly related to human life, they were placed in a separate category and their customs duty was reduced. He also urged not to interpret this in an exaggerated manner, such as "treason or sedition."
Similarly, mentioning that there was also a technical error in the fees regarding electric vehicles, he informed that the road development fee was adjusted targeting vehicles up to 5 million rupees. According to him, although the objective while making the policy was to encourage EVs, some things were missed during the documentation process, which were corrected later.
Finance Minister Wagle expressed objection to the wrong publicity of this matter, stating that all changes were made in accordance with the legal process by informing the Parliament Secretariat.
He said, "I did not make the mistake by typing it myself, but as a minister, I must take responsibility, which is why I have taken ownership."
He also accused some groups of trying to damage the image of the government and himself by exaggerating the issue. Furthermore, he clarified that the amendment made to the Economic Bill was part of a regular administrative process and there was no need to turn it into a major controversy.
