KATHMANDU, Feb 14: The government spent only 21.05 percent of the funds allocated for the development works in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

According to the records with the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government spent Rs 63.57 billion out of the allocated amount of Rs 302 billion under the heading of the capital expenditure. In terms of the amount, the government’s efficiency appears even pathetic this year compared to the last fiscal year. In the review period of FY 2022/23, the government exhausted Rs 66.29 billion (17.43 percent) in capital expenditure.

Most of the infrastructure projects to be built by the government are being carried out without preparation, while delay in the tender process, other bureaucratic procedures and issues related to projects funded by donor agencies are the major factors behind slow capital expenditure, according to former Finance Secretary Krishnahari Baskota.

Every year, the government is found to make slow expenses under capital expenditure while the expenses speed up at the eleventh hour towards the FY end. According to analysts, the inability does not only degrade the quality of development works, but has even worsened the employment opportunities and cash flow in the market at the time when the country is reeling under economic slowdown. 

Speaking at the mid-term budget review on Monday, Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said that the policy and legal hurdles in development projects had led to the slow pace in the capital expenditure. Mahat however claimed that the government has recently reviewed these obstacles and the development projects will be expedited in the coming days.   

On the other hand, the government spent Rs 509 billion in recurrent expenditure in the first seven months of the current FY. This makes 44.58 percent of the initially allocated budget of Rs 1.141 trillion under the heading.

Citing low expenditure capacity amid slow revenue collection, the government has downsized the budget for this fiscal year by 12.62 percent to Rs 1.530 trillion.

In the revised estimation, the government has projected to spend 88.84 percent of the actual regular expenditure worth Rs 1.141 trillion. Similarly, the government has estimated to spend 84.13 percent of Rs 302.07 billion under capital expenditure and 87.39 percent of Rs 307.45 billion under financial management.  

Meanwhile, the government collected revenue worth Rs 567.40 billion in the review period, which was only 39.89 percent of the targeted amount for this FY. The fiscal deficit has been recorded at Rs 95.19 billion. 

 
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