'Capital spending at around 2 percent'

KATHMANDU, Sept 24: Even though the government is celebrating Fiscal Year 2015/16 as a 'budget implementation year', Ministry of Finance (MoF) has said that the capital expenditure stands at just around two percent.

The data indicates that the government will lag behind in capital spending in the current fiscal year as well.Speaking at an interaction on budget implementation held in Kathmandu on Thursday, Baikuntha Aryal, joint secretary at MoF, said the finance ministry will seize budget of ministries and agencies that fail to spend the allocated budget. "MoF will monitor the status of budget implementation and allocated unspent budget to bigger projects," Aryal, who heads Budget and Program Division at MoF, said.

Citing various efforts made by MoF to boost capital expenditure, Aryal said he was hopeful that capital expenditure will increase in this fiscal year compared to the previous fiscal year. "If the budget implementation process is not started by the second quarter end or the implementation falls below 50 percent, MoF will seize the budget," he added.

Similarly, Chandramani Adhikari, member of National Planning Commission, said the commission has not received any significant project so far.

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