In a continuation of a longstanding trend, the government has utilized only 23.37% of the unrevised capital expenditure budget in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, according to data from the Financial Comptroller General Office ( FCGO ), which tracks government income and spending on a daily baisis.
As of Thursday, March 13, capital expenditure stood at Rs 82.33 billion. The government had originally allocated Rs 352.35 billion for capital expenditure this fiscal year but later revised it down to Rs 299.5 billion through the mid-term review . The situation in the same period last fiscal was no different when capital expenditure stood at just 26.89%.
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A persistent issue in Nepal’s fiscal management is that a significant portion of capital spending occurs at the last minute, reducing project efficiency and undermining effective financial planning.
The data reveals that the government’s total expenditure has exceeded its revenue by Rs 100.53 billion. Spending under the recurrent, capital, and financing headings reached Rs 839.35 billion, while total revenue—including tax, non-tax, grants, and other receipts—stood at Rs 738.82 billion.
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Last year, then Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun unveiled a Rs 1.86 trillion budget for the current fiscal year, 2024/25, a 6.2% increase from the previous year’s unrevised budget and a 21.56% rise compared to the revised budget. However, in a mid-term review last month, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel downsized the estimated expenditure to Rs 1.69 trillion, or 90.99% of the original allocation.
The revised expenditure estimates include: Rs 1.03 trillion, or 90.24% of the original allocation, for recurrent spending; Rs 299.5 billion, or 85% of the original allocation, for capital expenditure; and Rs 363.9 billion, or 99.09% of the original allocation for financial management.
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So far, total government spending and earnings account for 45.12% and 50.2% of the original budget, respectively.
As usual, most of the expenditure has been under recurrent spending, which reached Rs 584.12 billion, or 51.21% of the original budget. Meanwhile, spending under the financing heading amounted to Rs 172.89 billion, or 47.07% of the target.
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On the revenue side, tax revenue totalled Rs 638.79 billion, or 49.74% of the annual target; Non-tax revenue stood at Rs 81.54 billion, or 60.36%, of the target; and Rs 9.16 billion – just 17.51% of the target – was received in grants.
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