Former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel has accused the government of bringing the whitepaper by missing the COVID-19 impact on the national economy and objecting to the previous government works.
Speaking in the parliament meeting on Thursday, the former finance minister wondered why the new government criticized the previous government works. He was aware of the financial and economic statistics made public by the Finance Ministry, Nepal Rastra Bank, and the Central Bureau of Statistics, among others.
The whitepaper presented by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in the parliament two days back hugely ignored the adverse impact of COVID-19 in the national economy, he underscored.
Due to COVID-19, production and income declined but average spending remained stable. But this fact was neglected in the whitepaper.
He also took time to hail the programmes of the previous government as prime minister employment programme, social security, child security grant, workplace training to workers, accidental insurance in a group to workers, and the progress on national pride projects as Melamchi Drinking Water Project, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower, etc.