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VIPs go over budget on foreign travel
KATHMANDU, JUN 17 -
The government has transferred Rs. 35.5 million to finance foreign jaunts by VIPs from another budget heading as they had maxed out the allocated budget. A sum of Rs. 25 million had been set aside for VIP travel in this fiscal year's financial plan.
According to the Financial Comptroller General's Office (FCGO), virement or budget transfer from one heading to another under recurrent expenditure has reached Rs. 15.87 billion as of mid-June compared to Rs. 12.3 billion during all of the last fiscal year.
Among the headings receiving an additional budget are staff (government employees) facility, medical facility for government employees, travel and reception expenses of Nepali delegations travelling abroad and financial assistance such as incentives for couples marrying inter-caste and financial assistance for individuals.
The additional budget allocated for VIP travel is a completely new liability created for the government, said the FCGO. According to FCGO sources, the budget added in certain headings went to finance the raise received by government employees as per their hiked salary structure, their clothes and house rent as well. The Finance Ministry has directed the FCGO not to sanction any unspent budget under recurrent expenditure to other headings as it is planning to manage the funds to finance the hiked salary structure of government employees.
The government had been compelled to adjust the increase in salary last year after the raise was announced after the budget announcement creating an additional liability of around Rs. 10 billion. The Finance Ministry has already announced that it will not provide additional funds for foreign travel by VIPs.
Joint secretary of the Finance Ministry Bodh Raj Niraula said that the ministry would not allow virement this year except where termed essential by the cabinet. The government has a policy that the budget should be spent on what it was allocated for.
"Nevertheless, virement has been the general trend as the line ministries are not capable of spending the allocated budget," he said.
However, virement of capital expenditure has been lower compared to last year. It stood at Rs. 612.59 million as of mid-June compared to Rs. 28 billion during all of the last fiscal year. Niraula said that there was no need for virement in capital expenditure as the offices are yet to spend the abundant allocated budget.
As the government had not been able to spend the development budget, virement of the capital expenditure budget had risen greatly last year. The situation is not much different this year in terms of capital expenditure, and the size of virement may go up as large transfers are usually done in the final moments of the year.
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:31
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