Parliament on Friday voted to endorse government’s policies and programmes, paving the way for the government to present its budget for fiscal year 2016-17.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sunday presented the government’s policies and programmes in Parliament. 

The policies and programmes were put to vote on Friday after Prime Minister KP Sharman Oli responded to queries raised by lawmakers during the four-day-long deliberations. 

According to Parliament Secretariat, a total of 180 lawmakers from different parties had taken part in the deliberations, with those from the opposition parties expressing critical views, terming the policies and programmes “a temporary document by a temporary government”. 

Responding to the queries, mainly those raised by lawmakers from the opposition parties, PM Oli defended the government’s document and sought support from parties for the implementation. 

Responding to claims by the Nepali Congress and key coalition partner UCPN (Maoist) that local elections on government-announced dates (November/ December) are not possible, PM Oli said, “It is already too late. We cannot let the local bodies remain without elected representatives for long.” 

With the endorsement of the policies and programmes, the government is preparing to table the fiscal budget by the end of this month, as envisioned in the new constitution. The new fiscal year 2016-17 starts in mid-July.