Mid-term Budget Review Reveals Slow Progress in Budget Implementation

The mid-term review of the current fiscal year’s budget has revealed a sluggish pace of revenue collection and expenditure, with capital spending remaining particularly weak even at the halfway point of the fiscal year.

According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government achieved only 38 percent of its annual revenue collection target and spent just 35 percent of the allocated budget as of mid-January in the current fiscal year.

The government had announced a budget of Rs 1,964.11 billion for the current fiscal year.  As of mid-January, total expenditure stood at Rs 690.22 billion, accounting for 35.14 percent of the annual target.

Expenditure under the recurrent heading reached 41.25 percent of the annual allocation. Of the Rs 1,181 billion allocated for recurrent expenses, the government spent Rs 487.14 billion during the review period.

Capital expenditure remained particularly weak at 12.12 percent. Although the government had earmarked Rs 407.89 billion for capital spending in the current fiscal year, it spent only Rs 49.42 billion by mid-January.

Similarly, under the financial management heading, the government allocated Rs 375.24 billion for the fiscal year, of which Rs 153.64 billion—or 40.95 percent—had been spent by mid-January.

On the revenue side, the government set a target of collecting Rs 1,533.45 billion during the fiscal year. However, revenue collection stood at just Rs 588.51 billion by mid-January, which is 38.38 percent of the annual target. -- RSS