January 9: The Ministry of Finance has stated that the general level of price rise in the first five months of the current fiscal year has come down to 3.7 percent from 4.2 percent in the corresponding period of last year.

Similarly, the revenue collection growth in the first five months stood at 32 per cent, according to a news report published by Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS).

The state-run news agency further said that the handover of responsibility of dealing with some areas of taxes including vehicle registration, land and house rent to the province and local levels led to the increase.

The ministry, quoting the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), said that the annual basic price was 4.2 per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal.

Likewise, the statistics of Financial Comptroller General Office show that the total expenditure in the first five months (as of mid-December) increased by seven per cent while current expenditure decreased by 13 per cent and the capital expenditure witnessed a 25.3 percent rise, RSS said.

The ministry concluded that the low amount of total expenditure was due to austerity measures adopted by the government in current expenditure. Last year, the figure was high due to the elections.

The figure of people setting out for abroad jobs in the first five months went down by 41.2 percent as compared to the corresponding period last year while the remittance flow increased by 36 percent.

According to the NRB, the remittance flow in the first four months of the current fiscal increased by 36.4 percent and reached Rs 3312.26 billion. The remittance inflow in the same period last year had dropped by 1.4 percent.

The ministry released the statistics in response to the comments made public regarding some financial statistics presented by the Prime Minister to the House of Representatives on January 6, arguing that the figures were based on facts.