Rs 110b vote on accounts bill in offing

KATHMANDU, July 3: The caretaker government is planning to bring a vote on accounts bill worth around Rs 110 billion, out of the which biggest chunk of around Rs 53 billion will be earmarked for recurrent expenditure.



Briefing the parliamentary committee of the CPN-UML about the fiscal budget that the Ministry of Finance is planning to bring in the wake of confusion that has emerged after the sudden resignation of the government, Finance Minister in the caretaker government, Surendra Pandey, said that the ministry is planning to table the bill on July 9. [break]



Of the total expenditure planned for the next fiscal year, the ministry will earmark the entire fiscal year´s budget for expenditure heads that fall under chargeable items -- expenditure allocations that are not discussed in parliament, said a government official.



Expenditures for repayment of domestic as well as foreign loans and interest, expenses for the president, parliament and the judiciary are earmarked under the chargeable items in the budget.



However, MOF is working to bring one-third of the annual expenditure for appropriate items -- expenditure heads needing parliamentary approval.



As per the Article 96 (A) of the Interim Constitution, the government is authorized to bring one-third of the actual expenditure of the current fiscal year for expenditure heads falling under the appropriate items category.



Government officials told myrepublica.com that the Ministry of Finance is planning to earmark Rs 20 billion for financing capital expenditure, Rs 31 billion for repaying principal and interest of internal as well as external loans.



Finance Minister Pandey also was quoted as saying that the government is planning to allocate enough budget for major ongoing development projects.



As per the Interim Constitution, the government however, will also have the authority to mobilize revenues as per the Finance Act of the current fiscal year, though the government can´t bring changes to the present tax structure or introduce new taxes.



Then finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat announced a similar budget in 2008/09 when the government led by late Girija Prasad Koirala was rendered a caretaker government immediately after the Constituent Assembly election.

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