Nepal, May 31 -- With the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP)-led government unveiling its fiscal blueprint for the upcoming year, the declarations of economic transformation are meeting with scepticism. Observers and planning experts note that behind the budget's rhetoric lies a structural realignment-one that explicitly shifts focus away from traditional poverty alleviation toward an aggressive, tax-incentivised expansion of the middle class and the information technology sector. Critics argue this trajectory risks widening the country's socio-economic cleavages and relies heavily on unproven economic assumptions.

The Post's Biken K Dawadi sat down with former vice-chair of the National Planning Commission, Economist Shivaraj Adhikari, to d...