November 9: The government has kept the report on ‘public expenditure review’ secret even though it was submitted two years ago.  The 300-page report with suggestions to improve public expenditure was prepared after six months of investigation by a committee formed three years ago under the leadership of economist Dr  Dilliraj Khanal.

After completing necessary study and research, the committee had submitted the report to the then Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada. The report had suggested the government to increase development expenditure by cutting down the current expenditure through reduction in the number of ministries at the center and scrapping of more than 1,000 unnecessary government bodies. Instead of releasing the report and implementing it, the government is increasing the financial burden by allocating billions of rupees from the state coffers to the bodies that were recommended to be scrapped.

The Public Expenditure Review Committee had recommended in 2019 to scrap the Trade and Export Promotion Center, Industrial Enterprise Development Institute, Technology Development Fund and other bodies under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.

The Cotton Development Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, National Dairy Development Board, Livestock Development Farm Working Fund and National Cooperative Development Board were also recommended to be closed. The report had suggested removing and merging about 1,000 bodies under various federal ministries and their handover to the state and local levels.

The report, which has been kept secret by the government till now, has stated expenditure of billions have been made by various bodies like development boards, promotion centers, and commissions without any productive results. It had asked the government to reduce the number of ministries at the center from 18 to 15 and reduce the number of departments from 58 to 35. Instead of implementing the report, the government has been employing its own people by setting up additional non-essential bodies.

Former Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala says that keeping such reports secret would not benefit the country. “Such reports should be released and implemented immediately.”

The report had also suggested to increase development expenditure. However, the government has failed to even spend the allocated budget. According to the Finance Comptroller General Office, only about 17 percent of the total budget has been spent so far. “The share of development expenditure accounts for only 4.53 percent,” said Nawaraj Dhungana, spokesperson of the Finance Comptroller General Office.

The government has also introduced a policy of spending development budget at the rate of 10 percent every month to implement the current budget. However, this policy is limited only to paper. Meanwhile, Ritesh Shakya, spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, says that the ministry is working to increase development expenditure.

According to Shakya, reports prepared during different time periods have not been made public but are being implemented. He argues that the problems existing in the expenditure system will be addressed through the budget and the remaining issues will be addressed gradually.

The confidential report had pointed out that the current system of establishing a link between the periodic plan, the mid-term expenditure structure and the annual budget is poor. The report also states priorities and goals are not set in accordance with the factual analysis and in-depth analysis of policies, strategies, regional priorities and programmes.