Govt is not thinking of lockdown at this moment; says Finance Minister

File Photo Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel addressing 9th National Tax day on November 22. Photo Courtesy: Ministry of Finance

Kathmandu: Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel has clarified that lockdown should not be used for the prevention of covid-19 infection. Minister Poudel said that health standards should be strictly adhered to but border checkpoints should not be closed.

In a conversation with us on Thursday, Finance Minister Poudel said that the government has no plans to close or lock down the border checkpoints to prevent cowardice. He said, “We have to move forward guided by reality and not by apprehension.

The government is adamant that we should avoid the talk of the second wave of cowardice. On the other hand, economic and social activities need to be started regularly. That is why we start economic and social activities, do them regularly, and move forward by taking care of the health standards. At present, the government is not thinking of closing the border checkpoints. That is not appropriate now. ‘

Finance Minister Poudel also said that the government is already engaged in the preparation of the budget. He said that the preparation of principles and priorities has reached the final stage and the preparation of the budget has also started. Finance Minister Poudel also said that the budget would be prepared to focus on economic recovery, job creation, and other issues after covid.

He said, “We are busy preparing the budget. Preparation of principles and priorities has almost reached the final stage. At the same time, we are also involved in the preparation of the budget. I will explain later in totality, which we will discuss in due course. The main focus is on post-Covid economic recovery and job creation. We will come up with a budget to make decisions to get the Nepali economy back on track and make it dynamic. ‘

Finance Minister Poudel has also clarified that the budget will be prepared to keep in view the issues of national priority and to ensure the implementation of the budget. “Right now we want to focus on two things,” he said. The budget accurately identifies national priorities. In the national context, priorities come with the right set of priorities.
Second, budget implementation is ensured. We pay more attention to two things. What are our priorities today? We are more careful about that. Not only by making the budget public, but its effective implementation is also a very important issue. Therefore, how is the implementation ensured? We focus on these two things. ‘

Finance Minister Poudel has also clarified that there will be no shortage of budget for the purchase of the Corona vaccine.