Tuesday 16th April 2024
According to the Office of the Financial Comptroller General (OFCG), the capital expenditure of Province 1 in the first quarter of the current fiscal year stands at 4 percent.
The government had allocated NPR 23.57 billion for capital expenditure in FY 2019-20. However, the government has spent only NPR 1.40 billion in the first quarter, which is only 4.4 percent of the total budget allocated.
OFCG Information Antim Kumar Acharya said that the recurrent expenditure is recorded at 3.6 percent during the review period.
“The government had allocated a total of Rs 18.54 billion as recurrent expenditure for the current fiscal year. Of the total budget, Rs 675.8 million has been spent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year,” added Acharya.
Acharya pointed out at factors such as tender process and monsoon among others for slow capital spending.
“The government spending will increase in the second quarter,” he added.
The provincial government has asked ministers to create work plans to increase budget spending, which ministers complied with. However, this has not increased spending.
However, Province 1 Chief Minister Sher Dhan Rai has assured that the government is focusing on infrastructure projects development to improve spending.
As part of the Nepal Federal Budget Announcement FY 2019-20, Province 1 Economic Affairs and Planning Minister proposed a total budget of NPR 42.20 billion. Out of this, NPR 18.54 billion would be used as recurrent expenditure and NPR 23.7 billion as capital expenditure.
The above budgetary allocation has given high importance for Irrigation NPR 3.2 billion, Drinking Water and Sanitation NPR 3 billion and Education with an allocation of NPR 1.28 billion.
Read More: Nepal Federal Budget FY 2019-20: Highlights & Announcements
