Kathmandu. Government expenditure has been weak in the first 9 months and 11 days of the current year. Although ministries are ahead in current expenditure, ministries are weak in development expenditure.
According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, the budget expenditure on capital expenditure of the ministries has been very weak. Physical Infrastructure, Urban Development, Finance and other major development ministries have not been able to increase development expenditure.
The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, which is considered the development hub, has been given a capital budget of Rs 143.5 billion this year, but by Chaitra 11, this ministry has been able to spend only Rs 47.47 billion. Another development office, the Ministry of Urban Development, has spent only 11.88 billion rupees this year out of a capital budget of 63.17 billion rupees.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has failed to spend the development budget. The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, which received a capital budget of 2.10 billion rupees, has spent only 78.5 million rupees, according to data provided by the Ministry of Finance.
Similarly, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has spent only 11.25 billion rupees out of a development budget of more than 36.18 billion rupees. Another ministry that has not been able to spend the development budget is Agriculture and Livestock Development.
According to the Ministry of Finance, 87.33 billion rupees have been spent on capital as of Chaitra 11, 2081 BS. The allocated budget was 323.56 billion. Looking at the situation of capital expenditure by ministry, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has spent only 130 million out of a budget of 558.9 million, while the Ministry of Finance has spent 1.6 billion out of a budget of 137.9 billion.
This ministry has barely spent 11.5 billion out of a budget of 37.77 billion for the current year, while the Ministry of Drinking Water has also failed to spend the development budget. This ministry, which received a budget of 15.37 billion, has spent 3.52 billion by Chaitra 11, while the Ministry of Home Affairs, Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Foreign Affairs, Forest and Environment, Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation have not been able to spend even half of the allocated capital budget. The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Youth and Sports, and Defense have also failed to spend the budget.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Communication and Information Technology, Federal Affairs and General Administration, Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security have also failed to spend such budget. The Finance Minister has shown concern after the ministries were unable to spend the budget they received. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel called high-ranking officials of all ministries on Wednesday and directed them to be proactive in increasing capital expenditure, the Finance Minister’s Secretariat has informed.
Finance Secretary Ghanashyam Upadhyay had urged officials of various ministries to submit programs and plans for the next year’s budget according to their spending capacity. Revenue Secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire had said that the budget ceiling was not enough when it was distributed and that the style of not spending should be improved.
The Ministry of Finance has also instructed thematic ministries to surrender on time if they are unable to spend the budget for the current fiscal year. The secretaries of the thematic ministries participating in the discussion stated that the programs included in the budget are in the implementation phase and that they are moving forward with inter-ministerial coordination, transfer of funds, payment process, and policy clarity to increase capital expenditure, and that by the end of the current fiscal year, capital expenditure will be more than last year.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्