The government on Thursday, February 6, revised its revenue and expenditure estimates for the current fiscal year 2024/25 through a half-year review, reducing the overall budget size.

Presenting the mid-term review in Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel announced that the initially estimated expenditure of around Rs 1.86 trillion has been revised down to approximately Rs 1.69 trillion, representing 90.99% of the original allocation.  

The revised estimates for recurrent and capital expenditure are Rs 1.03 trillion and Rs 299.5 billion, or 90.24% and 85 % of the original allocation, respectively. 

Additionally, the government has earmarked Rs 363.9 billion, or 99.09% of the original allocation, for financial management.  

At the end of May last year, then Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun announced a Rs 1.86 trillion budget for the current fiscal year, which was 6.2% higher than the unrevised budget and 21.56% larger than the revised budget for the last fiscal year.

The government anticipates spending approximately Rs 1.47 trillion from domestic sources, including revenue and internal debt, along with around Rs 36.6 billion from foreign grants and Rs 180.8 billion from foreign loans.  

According to government data, total expenditure in the first half of the fiscal year amounted to Rs 667.6 billion, accounting for 35.89% of the total allocation. This reflects a 17.66% increase compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. However, capital expenditure remained sluggish, with only 16.16% of the capital budget utilized, as reported by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO).  

On the revenue front, the government collected Rs 567.39 billion during the same period, achieving 84.33% of the targeted Rs 672.8 billion.  

In response to resource constraints, the government has decided to freeze 25% of the remaining funds allocated for recurrent expenses from domestic sources, excluding mandatory obligations.