KATHMANDU, Aug 6: The government carried out a cash transfer of Rs 41.39 billion from unused funds meant for capital expenditure in other headings in the last fiscal year.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the aforementioned amount was the aggregate of all the budget transfers amounting to more than Rs 10 million per heading. While the amount of Rs 22 billion was transferred for the general election held on November 20, remaining Rs 19 billion was transferred during eight months after the conduction of the election.

An official of the MoF said the government transferred funds mainly due to its failure to disburse the amount as an impact of the shortfall in revenue collection. In the last fiscal year, the government collected only 71 percent of its targeted revenue of Rs 1.403 trillion.

On the other hand, the government spent only 61.44 percent of the budget allocated for the development works. For the review period, the government had allocated Rs 380.38 billion under capital expenditure, while only Rs 233.69 billion was spent.

Of the amount taken for budget transfer, most of them were used to pay the interest on the public debt. Similarly, the government used the funds to pay the salaries of the government employees, and for social security purposes. In addition, the amount in budget transfers was used partially on purchase of chemical fertilizers from abroad.

In the fiscal year 2022/23, the government expressed its commitment of providing Rs 71 billion for multi-year projects. The MoF released additional Rs 85.12 billion under ‘miscellaneous’ heading in which the purpose of expenditure is not clearly mentioned.   

The Office of the Auditor General in its 60th annual report has stated that the increasing budget transfers reveals increasing cases of irregularities in the bureaucratic system. According to the report, in the fiscal year 2021/22, the cash transfers conducted in 10 programs were not included in the budget heading, which breached the budget principle. 

 
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