Kathmandu. The government is preparing to present a larger budget for the upcoming fiscal year than the current year. The government, which is going to announce the budget for the next year by increasing the size of the current year, has not been able to spend as much budget in the previous year.
According to the Office of the Controller General of Accounts, the government has spent Rs 1,221 billion on the day before the new budget was unveiled as against Rs 1,860 billion presented last year.
Finance Minister Subarna Shumsher had presented the first budget in Nepal on February 11, 2008, during the tenure of then Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala. The size of the budget was Rs 52.5million.
In recent years, the government has always increased the size of the budget, but the government has failed to spend. If we look at the last ten years, it is clear that although the government is competing to bring a big budget, the expenditure has not been as expected.
According to the finance ministry data, only Rs 601 billion was spent out of the budget of Rs 819 billion in the fiscal year 2072/73 BS. In 2073/74, the then government had brought a budget of Rs 1,048 billion, but only Rs 831 billion was spent.
In 2074/75, the size of the budget has reached Rs 1,278 billion. The expenditure in that year was only Rs 1,084 billion. In the fiscal year 2075/76 BS, the size of the budget had reached Rs 1,315 billion.
In 2076/77, the then government presented a huge budget of Rs 1,532 billion. But in that year, only 1,091 billion budget was spent, which is weaker than in the previous year.
In the fiscal year 2077/78 BS, a budget of Rs 1,474 billion was brought. In the same year, only Rs 1,196 billion was spent. In 2078/79, a budget of Rs 1.632 trillion was presented, but only Rs 1.31 trillion was spent.
Similarly, the size of the budget reached Rs 1,793 billion in 2079/80, but rs 1,421 billion was spent in that year. Similarly, in the previous fiscal year 2080/81, the budget was slightly reduced to Rs 1,751 billion, out of which Rs 1,408 billion was spent.
Finance Minister Barshaman Pun had presented a budget of Rs 1,860 billion in the current fiscal year 2081/82 BS. Which has also raised serious questions about the ability of the officials to prepare the budget. So far, only Rs 1,221 billion has been implemented in the budget for the current fiscal year.
The government, which did not spend as much budget as last year, is bringing a budget of around Rs 1.9 trillion given by the National Planning Commission for the coming year. Experts and the private sector have been saying that the government should bring an implementation-oriented budget instead of bringing a large-scale budget at a time when foreign aid is shrinking and revenue is shrinking.
The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has also asked the government not to increase the size on the basis of haste. According to the suggestion given by the Federation, the size of the budget should be increased as much as the growth rate of revenue while deciding the size of the budget for at least two years.
Some economists say that the government should spend more and more at this time. But in the 1970s, the government’s decision to reduce daily spending, reduce tax rates for the private sector and the general public and increase production and consumption also appeared to have figured prominently.
Therefore, a policy should be taken to increase capital expenditure and increase consumption for immediate reform. It is not advisable to take a loan and spend too much. However, parliament has been disrupted for the day before the next year’s budget is presented.
The government has a constitutional obligation to bring the budget tomorrow. It has not yet been decided whether parliament will open or not. In particular, the main opposition party has been obstructing parliament demanding the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. As a result, the budget session is being affected.
The government has not been able to come up with an economic survey as parliament has been disrupted.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्