Govt repeats late spending trend as fiscal year comes to a close

KATHMANDU: The government has given continuity to the tradition of spending huge chunks of budget only towards the end of the fiscal year.

The trend has been repeated even in running fiscal too. A lump sum of Rs 52 billion was spent as development expenditure in the past 25 days as six days only remain in this fiscal.

According to Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), development expenditure stood at Rs. 137 billion on June 14, 2022. In the past 25 days, Rs 52 billion was spent, making the development expenditure rise to Rs 189 billion.

According to FCGO, Rs 15 billion as capital expenditure was spent on Saturday alone. Capital expenditure, which was Rs 174 billion till Friday, has climbed Rs 189 billion on Saturday.

The government had set a target of spending Rs 378 billion on development this fiscal year, however, only 50.11 percent of the budget allocated has been spent as of Saturday.

Similarly, current and fiscal management expenditure have also increased in the past 25 days.

In the said period, total budget expenditure reached 1.237 trillion on Saturday against 1.035 trillion on June 14, an increased of Rs 202 billion in 25 days.

The government’s data shows that it has been able to spend only 89.05 percent of the total budget of 2021/22.