December 17: The government had announced a budget of Rs 1.474 trillion for the current fiscal year 2020/21 with the objective of achieving 7 percent economic growth. However, after completion of the first five months of the current fiscal year, the government has been able to spend only 30 percent of the annual budget. The government’s expenditure of development budget is so far is only 10 percent.

Although the government had announced the budget by prioritizing health sector, revival of economy, employment, agriculture, social security and relief for people affected by coronavirus, it has been unable to spend the budget due to weak implementation of the policies and programmes included in the budget.

According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, which keeps the records of government’s income and expenditure, the government has spend 30.95 percent of the total budget as of end of Mangshir (mid-December) in the current fiscal year.

Out of the total current expenditure of Rs 948.94 billion, the government has spent Rs 280.74 billion. The government’s expenditure under the same heading this year is more than last year by  3 percent.

Similarly, the government has spent only 10.18 percent of the development budget allocated for this year in the first five months. The government’s capital expenditure in the corresponding period of last fiscal year was only 9.22 billion.

The government had allocated a total of Rs 315.91 billion for capital expenditure this year, out of which it has spent Rs 35.94 billion.

Since the budget for the current fiscal year is less than that of the previous FY, the government’s expenditure is comparatively more than that of last year. However, experts believe that the government’s spending is far less than expected.

Officials at the Ministry of Finance say that the low capital expenditure is due to the decline in development works due to coronavirus during the initial period of the current fiscal year.

According to Joint Secretary Yam Lal Bhusal at the finance ministry, the government has already prepared work procedures for various works by mid-December and therefore the budget expenditure will now increase significantly.

Similarly, out of Rs 172.78 billion allocated for the financial management, the government has spent only Rs 11.77 billion during the review period. The government has been repaying loan and interest to international donor agencies and has also been providing loan investment to various government organisations under the heading of financial management.

Looking at the progress made in terms of budget expenditure in the first five months of the current fiscal  year, the implementation of government’s ambitious programmes seems to be moving ahead at snail’s pace.  Economist Keshav Acharya says that the budget expenditure of the government clearly shows that the implementation of programmes included in the budget is weak. He says that there are some policy-level hurdles in spending budget while the government officials are also often the hurdle in government expenditure.