U.S. President Donald Trump is on a mission to make America great again. Our northern neighbor China has already proved to be a great nation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is engaged in the “Make in India” mission. Where do we stand in the global race, we don't know. Our leaders are not willing to talk about making Nepal.

The Finance Minister presented an amendment to the budget of the current fiscal year by reducing the size of the budget presented by the previous government led by Pushpakamal Dahal. Amendment of the budget has become a fashion in Nepal. During the time of writing a budget for the new fiscal year, the Finance Minister will be in pressure to present a populist budget. Therefore, without evaluating the actual revenue, the FM presents a hypothetical revenue target, which cannot be achieved in practice. Accordingly, based on the hypothetical revenue, the Minister presents a hypothetical expenditure. The government cannot reduce the general sector expenditure and has no funds for the development expenditure. In this regard, the government also presents a hypothetical amount to be received on grants, aid and loans.

Since the nation adopted a federal structure, the government’s general sector expenditure has inclined enormously, on the other hand, the government has not been able to increase the revenue on par with its expenditure. Thus far, the government is compelled to take debts worth two billion rupees each month to balance the revenue and compulsory expenditure. Being failed in collecting targeted revenue, the government fails to meet the expenditure target. As a result, the government is compelled to amend the budget in the middle of the fiscal year.

The problem is increasing expenditure without checking or confirming the revenue side. Such a problem has existed since the adoption of federalism and the solution to the ongoing problem is reducing the expenditure side. Just recently, the government issued a circular to all the offices asking the officials to cut down all unnecessary expenditures and also not to take the meeting allowances. Due to the financial crunch, the government has been unable to increase the salaries of the civil servicemen for several years, meanwhile, it has issued an order for not taking meeting allowances. The message from the government is that if the civil servicemen won’t manage household expenditure, manage it through corruption and commission. The other question is how much money the government can save while refusing to pay allowances! We know, the government lacks a vision. Shortly, the responsibility of the pension and social welfare allowances distributed by the government is going to increase tremendously. How will the government manage such expenditure, it is a burning question. Finally, unless the nation bears the load of federalism, the deficit budget will be the main characteristic of the nation. Given such a scenario, when do we get the time to think about making Nepal?