The federal and provincial governments recorded a total arrears of Rs 21.51 billion in the fiscal year 2023/24.

According to the Consolidated Financial Statement of the Central Account, submitted to the Office of the Auditor General by the Financial Comptroller General Office, the internal audit for fiscal year 2023/24 showed a total of Rs 21.51 billion in arrears. This amount includes Rs 1.13 billion in regular arrears, Rs 1.92 billion in receivable arrears, and Rs 10.45 billion in advance arrears.

Shyam Prasad Bhandari, spokesperson for the Financial Comptroller General Office, explained that the consolidated financial statement includes transactions related to federal reserves, foreign grants and loans, investments, budgetary and non-budgetary bodies’ revenues, collateral, and other funds. This statement has already been submitted to the Office of the Auditor General.

“We submitted the consolidated financial statement on October 30. This document provides an accurate overview of the government’s financial situation for the past fiscal year,” Bhandari said.

According to the statement, by the end of the fiscal year, the Federal Reserve Fund showed a negative balance of Rs 224.99 billion. "At the start of fiscal year 2023/24, the federal reserve balance was negative by Rs 181.26 billion. By the end of the fiscal year, the total income reached Rs 1,335.92 billion, while total expenditure was Rs 1,393.39 billion. After adjustments for exchange rates and other adjustments amounting to Rs 144.44 million, the federal reserve remains negative by Rs 224.99 billion," stated the report prepared by the Financial Comptroller General Office.

In fiscal year 2023/24, the government’s cash and bank reserves for budgetary bodies were negative by Rs 84.78 billion, while cash reserves for non-budgetary bodies showed a surplus of Rs 71.82 billion. Overall, the government’s cash and bank reserves ended with a negative balance of Rs 12.95 billion.

The government set a revenue collection target of Rs 1,247.63 billion for the fiscal year but collected only Rs 956.26 billion. Similarly, the government aimed to spend Rs 1,751.31 billion, but actual expenditure was limited to Rs 1,393.39 billion.

"Of the total expenditure, Rs 300.56 billion was allocated to the Federal Reserve Fund, and Rs 1,040.58 billion was spent on direct payments from the federal reserves," the financial statement revealed.

The government had aimed to transfer Rs 400.87 billion from the federal reserves to provincial and local governments. However, only Rs 339.41 billion was transferred. This included Rs 76.01 billion to provincial governments and Rs 263.39 billion to local governments.

The financial report also mentioned that the government had Rs 1.81 billion in pending advances, of which Rs 766 million was unexpired and Rs 1.04 billion overdue.

For the review year, the government borrowed a total of Rs 360.81 billion, of which Rs 125.66 billion was foreign debt and Rs 234.42 billion was domestic debt. Additionally, Rs 223.27 billion was spent on servicing public debt.

According to the consolidated financial statement, the government invested Rs 4.17 billion in internal loans, Rs 699.43 million in public institutions, and Rs 21.60 million in foreign share investments.

The Financial Comptroller General Office further reported that the government’s budgetary bodies hold goods and assets worth Rs 9.78 billion, while non-budgetary bodies possess Rs 19.99 billion in goods and assets.