A book titled ‘Open Budget’ dealing with different dimensions of public financial management and budget transparency in Nepal has been made public amid a programme in the capital city, Kathmandu, on 29 December, 2013.
Auditor General and former Finance Secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya made public the book at a two-day training for university level journalism students on public finance management organized by freedom1 Forum.
Inaugurating the training programme, Acharya stressed the efforts to bring about PFM reforms in a way to stimulate economic stability, effective resource allocation and management, public service delivery, good governance and state effectiveness.
‘The PFM instruments and approaches should be brought in to align development needs and priorities of the nation. The mere imitation of development model and imported instrument do make no sense for sustainable change in the country’, he added.
The book would help engage critical mass around various areas of PFM to increase the level of civic engagement in the budget process, he added.
National Planning Commission former Vice-Chairperson Deependra Bahadur Kshetry underlined the need for conscious citizens to join hands in the movement to build a prosperous country through effective public oversight on public resource generation and mobilization.
Senior economist and former advisor to Ministry of Finance Keshav Acharya said the budget is not merely the possession of the government so that the citizens’ participation in all four stages of budget – formulation, approval, execution and auditing – is imperative for effective public finance management.
Joint-Secretary of Finance Ministry and Budget Formulation Division Chief Baikuntha Aryal pledged to coordinate with citizen’s organizations working on PFM to formulate Pre-Budget Statement and Citizen Budget as a tool to foster public participation in budget.
freedom1 Forum Chairperson Taranath Dahal said the training would enrich knowledge and skills of journalism students and build their capacity to become professional economic journalists in coming days.
The book was compiled and edited by freedom1 Forum Programme Manager Anirudra Neupane and Somnath Lamichhane with editorial inputs from noted economist Keshav Acharya.
Some 30 journalism students from six colleges based in the capital are taking part in the training.
Program for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN)/CECI had funded for the project, ‘Facilitating Accessibility and Promoting Transparency of National Budget for Public in Nepal’ under which the book was published.