Kathmandu, June 17: The government’s capital expenditure has continued to lag in the current fiscal year, with only 32.5 per cent of the allocated development budget spent in the first 11 months, despite repeated efforts to improve implementation.
According to the daily receipt and payment status report of the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) under the Ministry of Finance, the government had spent Rs. 132.66 billion under capital expenditure as of June 14 of the current fiscal year.
The government had allocated Rs. 407.88 billion for capital expenditure in the current fiscal year. The pace of capital spending has slowed compared to the same period last fiscal year. During the first 11 months of the previous fiscal year, the government had spent Rs. 143.38 billion, equivalent to 40.69 per cent of the total allocated capital budget of Rs. 352.35 billion.
This indicates a decline of 8.16 percentage points in capital expenditure performance during the review period. The Ministry of Finance also opened many provisions for transferring funds to increase development and overall budget expenditure. However, there has been no improvement in the traditional trend of development expenditure.
The impact of this is that the development of Asar is certain to repeat itself again if the target is not achieved for 11 months. In contrast, recurrent expenditure has shown stronger performance.
The government spent Rs. 908.26 billion under recurrent expenditure during the review period, amounting to 76.91 per cent of the total allocation of Rs. 1,180.98 billion for the current fiscal year. This marks an improvement from the same period last fiscal year, when recurrent expenditure stood at Rs. 851.58 billion, or 74.66 per cent of the allocated Rs. 1,140.66 billion.
Similarly, under the financing heading, the government spent Rs. 305.71 billion in the first 11 months, equivalent to 81.47 per cent of the allocated Rs. 375.24 billion.
Budget deficit reaches Rs. 236 billion
Meanwhile, the government recorded a budget deficit of approximately Rs. 236.16 billion during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. The government receipts stood at Rs. 1,110.49 billion during the review period, achieving 72.42 per cent of the annual receipts target.
Overall, total government expenditure reached Rs. 1,346.65 billion during the review period, accounting for 68.56 per cent of the total annual budget of Rs. 1,964.11 billion. However, expenditures exceeded income, resulting in the growing fiscal deficit.
The Ministry of Finance has already revised its revenue and expenditure estimates through the mid-term review of the current fiscal year budget.
Revenue collection improves
Revenue mobilisation has shown moderate improvement during the review period. The government collected Rs. 1,081.31 billion in revenue during the first 11 months, achieving 73.06 per cent of the annual target of Rs. 1,480 billion.
Of the total revenue collected, tax revenue contributed Rs. 981.35 billion, equivalent to 74.03 per cent of the annual target, while non-tax revenue stood at Rs. 99.96 billion, or 64.73 per cent of the target. For the current fiscal year, the government aims to mobilise Rs. 1,325.58 billion through tax revenue and Rs. 154.41 billion through non-tax sources.
The revenue collection has increased by 6.5 per cent during the review period as compared to the same period last year.
The government had collected revenue of Rs. 1,015.69 billion during the first 11 months of the last fiscal year. This was 71.56 per cent of the annual target of Rs. 1,419.3 billion of the last fiscal year. During the review period of the current fiscal year, the government received grants worth only Rs. 22.88 billion, which is 42.82 per cent of the annual target.
The government has set an annual grants target of Rs. 53.44 billion for the current fiscal year. Similarly, the government received Rs. 6.29 billion under other receipts during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Ministry has revised the revenue and miscellaneous receipts estimate downward to Rs. 1,298 billion for the current fiscal year, compared to the earlier target of Rs. 1,480 billion. #nepal
