KATHMANDU, July 4: A meeting of the National Assembly (upper house of the parliament) held on Friday passed two bills: Finance Bill 2082 BS and National Debt Collection Bill 2082 BS.
The Upper House endorsed these bills and forwarded them to the House of Representatives.
In the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel presented the proposal that these bills, received from the House of Representatives (HoR) with a message: pass without any amendment and send back to the HoR.
The proposal was unanimously passed. During the deliberations, Minister Paudel clarified that luxury tax was imposed on gold ornaments to make gold transactions more transparent and to address international communities' concerns on this matter.
'Finance Bill, 2080' and 'National Debt Recovery Bill, 2080' ta...
Addressing the queries raised by parliamentarians during the clause-wise discussion on the Finance Bill 2082 BS, Minister Paudel emphasized policy and legal reforms to remove Nepal from the 'Grey List'.
It may be noted that Nepal is currently on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s Grey List due to deficiencies in its system to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Minister Paudel mentioned that the policy provisions were made to mitigate the potential impacts stemming from Nepal's inclusion into the Grey List. "This will ensure transparency in gold transactions and bring the trade into the tax net thereby curbing illegal trade," he argued.
Furthermore, responding to the queries of lawmakers on the National Debt Collection Bill 2082 BS, Minister Paudel claimed that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has proven to be the best in terms of appropriation, revenue estimates, international aid and international debt among others.
The incumbent government on May 29 announced an annual budget of Rs 1.964 trillion for Fiscal Year 2025/26.
Minister Paudel also expressed his confidence that the internal debt would be mobilized for productions, productivity growth and capital expenditure.
The National Assembly had rejected amendments proposed by the lawmakers regarding the bills by a majority. The upper house’s next meeting will be held on July 9.
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