February 10: The trend of seeking funds outside the budget is growing alarmingly. Instead of spending money from the budget announced by the government on May 29, most of the concerned agencies and ministries have asked for additional budget of more than Rs 216 billion. 

In the first seven months of the current Fiscal Year (FY), capital expenditure for development has so far been 16 percent of allocated budget while most of the agencies have asked for funds outside the budget. This year, the Ministry of Finance has demanded an additional budget of Rs 13.18 billion, while the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has the highest demand for additional budget.  

The energy ministry demanded more than Rs 59 billion outside the budget. The performance of this ministry in budget expenditure does not look good. The ministry has spent only 17 percent of the development budget allocated in the current fiscal year. 

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has demanded an additional amount of Rs 28.45 billion than the allocated budget. The ministry has spent a total of 16.98 percent of the budget allocated for development expenditure in the current fiscal year. 

The list of bodies demanding big budgets include the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, National Planning Commission and Ministry of Tourism. These ministries have so far spent 15 to 22 percent of budget allocated for development works. The additional budget was demanded before the election was announced. 

These bodies are also spending very poorly in the current fiscal year's budget. This shows that the past trend of not spending money on programmes included in the budget but asking for funds is still prevalent. 

According to former chief secretary Bimal Koirala, there is a growing tendency for ministries to go beyond the budget and ask for large amount of fund. This tendency raises questions on the homework done by the government officials during the preparation of the budget and proves that they are failing to make accurate estimates of the projects and programmes in the budget. 

After the government announced that the local elections will be held in one phase on May 13, it has been a challenge for the Ministry of Finance to manage resources. So far, the Election Commission has estimated that it will cost around Rs 12 billion to hold the local elections. The commission has already submitted an estimate to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba a week ago. According to the EC, an additional budget of Rs 4 billion has been demanded that the budget allocated for the 2074 elections.