NC mocks NDF strategy paper
Main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has on Monday bitterly criticized the
agendas of the Nepal Development Strategy Paper (NDSP) presented by the
incumbent government for upcoming Nepal Development Forum (NDF), scheduled
to take place in mid-May.
"The growth agendas and projections of the NDSP not only lack national
consensus but also they are based on fallacious premise," lambasted Dr Ram
Saran Mahat, former finance minister as well as senior NC leader.
According to Dr Mahat, the high level taskforce designated to write the
NDSP did not consult with the opposition political parties,
intelligentsia, civil society, economists and development experts while
preparing the same."The NDSP is supposed to replace the present Three Year Interim Plan by
scrapping its third and final year. But the NDSP has neither gone through
parliamentary Finance Committee of the National Development Council,"
further remarked Dr Mahat.
He also claimed that the estimates for growth and other macro economic
variables are highly exaggerated. "The target set by the NDSP to achieve a
growth rate of 8.5 percent in 2011, generation of total revenue of Rs 532
billion in constant prices in there year's time, government investments of
25.6 percent of GDP and the foreign resources of 7.1 percent of GDP is
ridiculously unrealistic," he stated.
According to him, there is also a complete absence of framework policy to
increase gross domestic saving from 8 percent to 18.2 percent of GDP and,
capital formation from 21 percent to 39 percent of GDP in 2011.The NC also mocked the promise of the NDSP to make the country foreign
aid free by 2025.
"Given the fact that the NDSP has raised foreign aid estimates from Rs 51
billion in the current year to total of Rs 233 billion in three years
period (i.e from 5.4 percent of GDP to 7.1 percent of GDP in 2011), the
promise, the promise to make the country aid-free sounds hollow," he said.
The NC also advised the government and donors/development partners to
seriously ponder over the past emphasis on macro economic stability,
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and Medium Term expenditure
Framework (MTEF) in order to ensure consistency of their approach to the
development paradigms and the reform agenda. nepalnews.com nd April 20 09
