Kathmandu, May 29 -- Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle on Friday announced a 21 percent increase in salaries for government employees while unveiling a broad package of welfare, infrastructure, sports and healthcare measures in the budget for fiscal year 2026-27.

The finance minister said salaries had not been increased for the past four years, while inflation had risen by 17.3 percent during the same period.

The government also announced that lottery schemes would be introduced under all remittance inflow programmes.

In the health sector, the government allocated Rs15 billion for the health insurance programme, which had faced disruption in both public and private hospitals due to financial difficulties.

The budget also announced air am...