Business»
Development budget remains unspent
KATHMANDU, JUN 16 -
Development spending has been less than the budget allocation with the government having spent only half of the capital expenditure budget during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.
Out of the Rs. 106 billion budgeted for capital expenditure this year, only Rs. 66.54 billion has been sanctioned in cash from the various District Treasury Comptroller Offices (DTCOs) to projects across the country as of mid-May.
The Financial Comptroller General's Office (FCGO), the agency which sanctions the budget under its DTCOs, received records of Rs. 52.84 billion spent on development activities as of mid-May. Rs. 13.69 billion remains unspent in the accounts of a number of DTCOs. This amount is cash based expenditure on development activities.
Progress in the area of non-cash expenditure that comes as commodities and direct loans or grants from donors is also not encouraging. Out of the Rs. 23 billion allocated under this category, only Rs. 3.51 billion has been spent on real development activities while Rs. 1.34 billion went for recurrent purposes. Under this non-cash category, Rs. 19.10 billion has been allocated for capital expenditure while Rs. 3.96 billion has been earmarked for recurrent expenditure.
This figure clearly indicates that the government will have to spend about half of the budget within the remaining two months of the fiscal year. However, Keshav Acharya, senior economic advisor to the Finance Ministry, expressed confidence that the government would achieve capital expenditure of Rs. 85 billion in cash base alone this year. "The capital expenditure has been impressive this year compared to last year," he said.
Although development expenditure has always been less than the target for the last six years, this has emerged as a major challenge from the last fiscal year.
The government could spend just Rs. 76 billion in the last fiscal year against the target of Rs. 96 billion.
In the past, the gap was not so wide. In the fiscal year 2007/08, the government spent Rs. 53 billion against the target of Rs. 55 billion. Likewise, the government spent Rs. 39 billion against the target of Rs. 45 billion in 2006/07.
Acharya said that political uncertainty during the last two years had resulted in capital expenditure being less than the target. Delayed announcement and endorsement of the budget has also been cited as a major reason behind the slow development expenditure.
However, recurrent expenditure has been fast-paced with Rs. 123.27 billion already sanctioned out of the Rs. 160.63 billion allocated under this heading as of mid-May. According to the FCGO, Rs. 104.37 billion has already been spent under this heading.
Posted on: 2010-06-17 09:57
Headlines
Advertisements
