The government has spent only around 52 per cent of the targeted annual budget during the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2023/24 reports The Rising Nepal.

According to the daily report of the Financial Comptroller General Office under the Ministry of Finance, the government has spent only Rs. 909.39 billion by April 12, 2024.

This is only 51.93 per cent of the total annual budget allocation. The government had allocated an annual budget of Rs. 1,751.31 billion for the current fiscal year. Compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, the budget expenditure in the review period is slightly lower.

The government had spent 52.57 per cent of the annual budget in the first nine months of the last fiscal year 2022/23. Of the total budget expenses, capital expenditure stands at only 32.24 per cent of total allocation in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

Of the Rs. 302 billion allocated under capital expenditure, only Rs. 97.34 billion has been spent by April 12, 2024. The rate of capital expenditure is slightly higher during the review period as compared to the same period last year. The capital expenditure stood only at 28.19 per cent during the first nine months of the last fiscal year.

The recurrent expenditure of the government stood at 56.41 per cent (Rs. 644.02 billion) of recurrent expenditure for the current fiscal year. The government has allocated a budget of Rs. 1,141.78 billion under the heading of recurrent budget for the current fiscal year.

The rate of recurrent expenditure is lower during the review period as compared to the same period last year. The recurrent expenditure stood at 59.73 per cent during the first nine months of the last fiscal year.

Likewise, the government has spent Rs. 167.9 billion under the heading of financing in nine months of the current fiscal year. That is 54.64 per cent out of the total allocation of Rs. 307.4 billion. Generally, the amount allocated under the heading of financial arrangements is used to pay the principal and interest of the public debt.

Through the half-yearly review of the budget, the Ministry of Finance has released a revised estimate that only Rs. 1,530.26 billion will be spent in the current fiscal year. It is 87.38 per cent of the initially allocated budget.