KATHMANDU, Aug 15: Growing arrears has been taken as one of the challenges before financial discipline in the country. 

It was substantiated by the record maintained by the Office of the Auditor General. In the last fiscal year alone, the Office recorded the arrears of Rs 103 billion, taking the total arrears to Rs 500.8 billion. 

This information was shared by Auditor General, Tankamani Sharma, at a meeting of the Public Account Committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. 

Categorically, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport tops the arrears- Rs 212 billion, which is followed by the Finance Ministry. Others to follow suit are Ministries of Education, of Defense, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Urban Development, Health and Population, Irrigation, and Home Affairs. 

In the meeting, it was said the reason behind rising arrears were- political instability, no presence of people's representatives at local levels, administrative accountability deficit, influence of external factors, growing impunity, no competent fiscal administration, and indifference towards compliance with fiscal discipline. 

The OAG has informed that it was fanning out 6,000 auditors to all three tiers of government this year. 

During the auditing it was found that transfer of budget from one heading to another was rife; there was not auditing of foreign assistance neither was it included in regular budget; liability with multiyear contract was made; preparedness was not adopted on the projects. RSS

 
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