KATHMANDU, June 29: All the government agencies are required to assume their responsibility effectively to reduce the arrear amount that has been growing every year and to maintain the fiscal discipline.
Speaking at the 67th anniversary of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) on Sunday, Auditor General Toyam Raya stressed on the need for constitutional organs, ministries, departments, sub-national governments and public enterprises accomplishing their tasks by taking their full responsibilities. “All the government bodies have to strictly follow the state’s audit policies along with the annual calendar to meet their tasks on time,” said Raya.
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According to the OAG report, the government arrears increased by 1.54 percent to Rs 733.19 billion in the fiscal year 2023/24. There was additional mismatch expenditure worth Rs 91.59 billion alone in the last fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) was found to have conducted the largest amount of Rs 33.71 billion under the non-transparent transactions.
Out of a total of Rs 3.161 trillion audited across 3,093 federal government offices, irregularities amounting to Rs 47.74 billion were recorded. At the provincial level, the OAG carried out audits for 1,165 offices amounting to Rs 308.56 billion, of which Rs 4.20 billion was traced under irregularities. Similarly, of the audited amount of Rs 1.118 trillion at the 753 local levels, discrepancy of Rs 25.3 billion was revealed in the review period.
Rishikesh Pokharel, chairperson of the parliamentary Public Account Committee, said the parliamentary committee alone cannot solve the problem of the growing arrears. “It can be resolved only if the offices concerned are responsible,” said Pokharel.
The participants of the program stressed on the need for capacity building of the civil servants, increasing awareness and strict follow-up of the guidelines provided by the OAG in order to check the expanding amount of arrears every year.
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