Gandaki Province Unveils Rs 32.99 Billion Budget Focused on Investment and Jobs

Gandaki Province has presented its budget with the long-term vision of building a self-reliant and prosperous province with happy citizens. Presenting the budget for fiscal year 2083/84 in Monday’s meeting of the Gandaki Provincial Assembly, Economic Affairs Minister Jit Bahadur Sherchan said the province would work together with the private sector for economic and social transformation. He said the campaigns “Mero Pradesh: Mero Dayitwa” and “Invest Gandaki” would be operated to attract investment, promote economic development and create employment. The budget has focused on encouraging public, private and cooperative sector investment while increasing production, productivity and jobs.

Tourism and agriculture have been given priority in the budget, with programs such as “Return to Village,” “Manang and Mustang apples, Nawalpur rice, Syangja oranges, Gandaki’s pride,” and “Plant indigenous crops, protect health and environment.” To attract youth to agriculture, the province will run the “Return to Village” campaign. Rs 40 million has been allocated for interest subsidies on loans, implementation of minimum support prices and promotion of commercial agriculture. The budget also includes the construction of an information technology park in Pokhara under the concept “Connect with technology, connect with prosperity.” Out of the total Rs 32.99 billion budget, the largest allocation of Rs 11.96 billion has been made for physical infrastructure development and transport. Rs 4.77 billion has been allocated for energy, water resources and drinking water, Rs 3.21 billion for health, Rs 2.16 billion for social development, youth and sports, Rs 1.21 billion for forests and environment, Rs 2 billion for industry and tourism, and Rs 2 billion for agriculture, land management and cooperatives.