KATHMANDU, July 18: The government’s spending under capital expenditure appeared dismal yet again in the fiscal year 2020/21 that ended on Thursday with the government utilizing only 64.69 percent of the funds allocated under the heading.
According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government spent Rs 227.73 billion out of Rs 352.91 billion allocated for the last fiscal year. Of the amount spent, Rs 86.79 billion was spent just during mid-June and mid-July, the last one month of the fiscal year.
Karnali Province spends only 31pc of budget in 10 months
The FCGO records show that the figure jumped by 24.65 percent in the last one month alone, revealing the common occurrence where the government rushes to increase capital spending in the last hour of every fiscal year. Despite the government’s commitment to make capital expenditure on time, almost every year the authorities concerned are unable to do so. This has put to question the quality of completed development projects along with the fiscal discipline within the government system.
During mid-July 2020 and mid-July 2021, the government spent 89.75 percent of the allocated recurrent expenditure totaling Rs 948.94 billion. Despite the impacts of the coronavirus and lockdowns, the revenue collection however stood at 92.74 percent of the targeted amount. In the review period, the government collected Rs 917.07 billion in revenue against the target of Rs 1.01 trillion.
