'Agriculture needs attention'

My experience is that lower taxes and firm implementation give higher revenues. Growing economic activity is the healthiest way to revenues. We need stability of the investment environment.

With the Budget just round the corner, I wish to share some of my experiences as finance minister in trying to make the decision-making process more transparent and in increasing the involvement of the public in Budget-making. Some may have become irrelevant, some may still be useful.

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The Open House experiment was the most useful in making the decision-making process of individual cases more transparent. Open House meetings were held at the beginning of every month and anyone who had a problem could apply for a hearing. The decision on each application would be announced by the next Open House. Transparency was ensured because verbal interaction between the applicant and the concerned officers would take place in the presence of all attending the Open House.

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