House approves Public Debt Bill, AML ordinance
The proposal, tabled by Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle during Friday’s House meeting, was endorsed unanimously by lawmakers.
KATHMANDU: The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a proposal to deliberate on the Public Debt Raising Bill, 2083, paving the way for the government to mobilize loans for the upcoming fiscal year.
The proposal, tabled by Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle during Friday’s House meeting, was endorsed unanimously by lawmakers.
Responding to concerns raised during the general discussion, Finance Minister Wagle said the budget for the next fiscal year has been designed to allow borrowing based on the country’s existing economic capacity.
He stressed that the debt burden should be assessed in proportion to the size of the economy and informed the House that Nepal’s outstanding public debt currently stands at Rs. 30 trillion.
“The budget has been introduced within the framework of fiscal discipline,” Wagle said. “Comparatively, debt has not increased significantly, and the budget remains balanced in size. We will implement the budget through domestic revenue mobilization.”
Lawmakers Aryan Rai, Parashuram Tamang, Krishnahari Budhathoki, Harkaraj Rai, Guru Prasad Baral, Parasmani Gelal, Badan Kumar Bhandari, Deepak Kumar Sah (Sunsari), Harimohan Bhandari, Gyanu Paudyal and Surya Bahadur Tamang participated in the discussion and expressed their views on the proposal.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives also unanimously approved the Anti-Money Laundering Prevention (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2083.
The ordinance was endorsed after Finance Minister Dr. Wagle presented a proposal seeking its approval during Friday’s parliamentary session.
Prior to the vote, UML lawmaker Nita Ghatani, speaking on behalf of opposition parties, had proposed rejecting the ordinance. However, her proposal was defeated by the House.
