Kathmandu, January 14
Half of the current fiscal year 2078/79 is coming to an end today. At the end of the fiscal year, the government has been able to spend only 30.72 percent of the total budget. The
government has shown interest in spending the capital budget mainly for infrastructure
development.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma ‘Prabhakar’ had put forward an action plan to spend capital at the rate of 10 percent every month. However, the finance minister himself has failed to achieve his goal. With one day left to complete the six months till Thursday (Poush 29), the government has been able to spend only 10.88 percent of the capital expenditure. The previous government had spent 14.4 percent on capital expenditure till Poush 29 last year.
The budget brought by the previous government led by KP Oli through an ordinance was
replaced by the current government. The government had suffered a week-long government shutdown due to non-approval and ratification of the replacement budget by the end of the ordinance budget. The replacement budget of Rs. 16 Kharba 32 Arba 82 Crore 92 Lakh.
Finance Minister Sharma had allocated Rs 10 Kharba 3 Arba 74 Crore for current expenditure, Rs 4 Khraba 29 Arba 65 Crore 9 Lakh for capital expenditure and Rs 89 Arba 43 Crore 76 Lakh for financial management. Out of the total allocation, 30.72 percent has been spent so far, 40.28 percent for current expenditure, 10.88 percent for capital expenditure and 26.12 percent for financial management.
The finance minister has set a target of achieving seven percent economic growth through
budget implementation. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General provides
information on daily budget expenditures. Asked about the budget expenditure trend, the
office’s spokesperson and joint secretary Nawaraj Dhungana claimed that the capital
expenditure was low as the finance ministry was working to remove the economic chaos.
”Other expenditures linked to capital expenditure have been brought under control this time, from unnecessary consultancy services to wasteful expenditures,” said Dhungana. Yes, but now capital is increasing day by day. ‘ Dhungana said that the performance level of government ministries and agencies and the payment process would be crucial to increase capital expenditure in mid-Poush.
Although efforts have been made to increase capital expenditure since the budget was
introduced, this time it is a matter of concern that the expenditure will be less, said Ritesh
Shakya, spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance. ”The spending ministries and agencies are showing the whole problem,” he said. Shakya told news channels that the problems of procurement, forest and compensation have been shown to be due to lack of capital expenditure. He said that the capital expenditure could not increase even though some development stations did not pay the contractors.
Ravi Singh, president of the Federation of Construction Entrepreneurs of Nepal, also said that they have not received payment since the past. He claimed that the government could increase capital expenditure by Rs 30-35 billion to facilitate payments. However, experts say that the development work would be further neglected and exploitation of resources would increase if the construction businessmen were paid easily.
Successful in obtaining resources
The sources of budget brought by the government every year are revenue, foreign loans /
grants and internal loans. The total size of the budget is estimated from these sources. Out of the current budget size of Rs. 1,632.82 billion, the revenue alone is targeted to raise Rs.
1,180.60 billion.
Looking at the statistics as of Thursday, the government has been successful in obtaining
resources. Revenue alone has raised 44.24 percent of the total target. As of Thursday, tax
revenue had risen to 44.8 percent and non-tax revenue to 38.8 percent. As Friday is the last day to pay the tax installment, the revenue collection is sure to increase further. Meanwhile, the government has received 23.17 percent of the target grant.
By Karuna Thapa
