Provinces present COVID-centred budget of Rs. 261.8 billion for FY 2021/22

Kathmandu, Jun. 15

Seven provinces in Nepal have announced the combined budget of Rs. 261.82 billion for the coming Fiscal Year 2021/22 on Tuesday with aims to control and treat COVID-19, develop health, tourism and connectivity infrastructure, modernise agriculture and create jobs.

It is Rs. 2.38 billion smaller than the budget of the current fiscal year. The total size of provincial budget in the current fiscal year is Rs. 264.20 billion.

Bagmati Province has announced the largest budget among the seven provinces. It has come up with the budget of Rs. 57.72 billion while Gandaki Province has the smallest budget of Rs. 30.03 billion. Likewise, Province 2 has announced the budget of Rs. 33.79 billion,  Lumbini Rs. 40.95 billion, Karnali Rs. 36.54 billion and Sudurpaschim Rs. 30.33 billion.

 

Province 1

The Province-1 government has unveiled a budget of Rs. 32.46 billion for the fiscal year 2021/22.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of the province Tanka Angbuhang Limbu presented the budget in the province assembly on Tuesday.

Out of the total allocation, Rs. 14.16 billion has been set aside for recurrent expenditure, Rs. 15.05 billion for capital expenditure, Rs. 3.22 billion for financial transfer at the local level and Rs. 30 million for financial management.

The government has given priority to the health sector in the new budget by allocating Rs. 3 billion for the sector. It has prioritised COVID-19 prevention and control, including coronavirus vaccination programme for all.

The government has announced to develop Mechi and Dhankuta hospitals as 100-bed hospitals and upgrade other district hospitals to minimum 50-bed ones.  Oxygen storage will be arranged in the hospitals.

Rs 1.19 billion has been allocated for education, Rs. 1.90 billion for agriculture and Rs. 833 million for tourism. The government aims to establish a library in every school and gradually turn them into electronic ones.

The government has allocated Rs. 100 million for the Chief Minister's Youth Entrepreneurship Programme.

The government has adopted the policy of emphasising agricultural production through the programme called ‘My Agriculture, My Pride’.

The government has allocated Rs. 5 billion for the completion of Ghinaghat-Biratchowk-four lane road and other multi-year road projects.

The government has allocated Rs. 50 million for solar energy with an aim of supplying electricity to every household within two years and to promote electric stoves to increase electricity consumption.

 

Province 2

Province 2 government has unveiled budget of Rs. 33.79 billion for the next fiscal year. Its Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Bijaya Kumar Yadav presented the budget at the Provincial Assembly.

The budget has Rs. 15.63 billion allocation to recurrent, Rs. 18.5 billion to capital and Rs. 100 million to financing expenditures with 46.26 per cent, 53.44 per cent and 0.30 per cent share in the budget respectively.

Funding of the budget would be Rs. 3.04 billion from internal revenue, Rs. 13.9 billion from federal government grants, Rs. 9.58 billion from revenue sharing and Rs. 6.25 billion from the budget savings of the current fiscal year. About Rs. 1 billion would be mobilised from the internal loan.

Yadav has given priority to COVID-19 control, prevention and treatment, development of agriculture, education and physical infrastructure, and creation of employment. Dialysis machines, provincial hospital, COVID hospital, Madhes Health Science Institute, and Ayurveda have got special attention in the budget.

 

Bagmati

The Bagmati Province government has presented a budget of Rs. 57.72 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, giving priority to prevent, control and treatment of COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of the province Kailash Prasad Dhungel presented the budget in the provincial assembly on Tuesday.

The allocation for recurrent expenditure is Rs. 26.01 billion (45 per cent), while Rs 29.7 billion (51 per cent) has been allocated for capital budget and Rs. 2 billion (4 per cent) financing.

Minister Dhungel said that the government has introduced budget to revive the economic sector keeping in view the impact of the COVID-19 on the economic sector.

The budget has focused on food production, job creation, making public services more effective and building physical infrastructure that directly benefit the people.

The government has allocated Rs. 2 billion for the COVID-19 Province Chief fund for the COVID-19 vaccination programme for all the citizens that would run in coordination with federal government.

The government has allocated Rs. 500 million for the operation of electric buses in the coming year and Rs. 160 million for the subsidy to encourage milk farmers in all 13 districts of the province.

It has allocated budget for tunnel road and upgrading of existing roads and irrigation projects with high priority.

 

Gandaki

Gandaki province has announced the budget of Rs. 30.03 billion for the next fiscal. Chief Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokharel announced the budget with the size less than Rs. 4 billion of the current year.

The size of recurrent, capital and financing is Rs. 13.6 billion, Rs. 16.7 billion and Rs. 734 million respectively. The share of the recurrent budget is 43.5 per cent, capital 55.7 per cent and financing 0.8 per cent.

Sources of the budget include Rs. 7.4 billion financial equalisation grant, Rs. 4.1 billion conditional grant, Rs. 873 million matching grant and Rs. 549 million special grant, Rs. 7.6 billion in revenue shares, Rs. 300 million in royalties and Rs. 4.98 billion from internal revenue.

Remaining budget will be managed from estimated budget saving of Rs. 2.1 billion in the current fiscal, Rs. 1 billion internal loan and Rs. 1 billion loan from the federal government.

The newly appointed CM of Gandaki has accorded priority to treatment, control and prevention of coronavirus, creation employment for youth who lost jobs to the pandemic, development and expansion of health and other physical infrastructure, rehabilitation of businesses, and modernisation of agriculture.

 

Lumbini

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Baijanath Chaudhary presented budget of Rs. 40.95 billion for FY 2021/22 which is Rs. 4.49 billion larger than the budget of this fiscal.

He allocated Rs. 14.93 billion to recurrent, Rs. 21.17 billion to capital and Rs. 4.84 billion for financing expenditures. Share of recurrent, capital and financing in the budget is 36.47 per cent, 51.71 per cent and 11.82 per cent respectively.

Sources of the budget are Rs. 8.2 billion financial equilisation grant, Rs. 6.2 billion conditional grant, Rs. 721 million matching grant and Rs. 634 million special grant, and internal revenue Rs. 4.29 billion, revenue sharing Rs. 13.2 billion, and royalty Rs. 1 billion.

Remaining funding would be managed from Rs. 7.05 billion savings of the budget of the current fiscal.

Minister Chaudhary said that the province would adopt ‘COVID first’ policy and provide free treatment to COVID-19 patients.

The budget has given priority to the development of agriculture, industry, tourism and infrastructure sector, and employment.

Minister Chaudhary said that special budget is managed for the development of human resources for tourism industry. 50 locations in the province would be developed as the tourist destinations.

Development of master plan for the new capital city and development if infrastructure has also received attention.

 

Karnali

Karnali Province government has unveiled a budget of Rs. 36.54 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Gopal Sharma presented the budget of Rs. 36.54 billion in Karnali Provincial Assembly.

In the total budget, Rs. 21.65 billion (59 per cent) has been allocated for capital expenditure and Rs. 11.49 billion (31 per cent) for recurrent expenditure and Rs. 3.39 billion (10 per cent) for financial transfer.

The government has given priority to health, education, production and infrastructure development for the upcoming fiscal year.

Sharma said that the government has allocated Rs. 539.3 million for the prevention and control of COVID-19.

The government has allocated Rs. 231.5 million for tourism development in the province, Rs. 7.29 billion for road infrastructure and transport development, Rs. 1.79 billion for drinking water and sanitation, Rs. 687.4 million for irrigation and to contain river, Rs. 423.1 million for energy and Rs. 400 million for urban management.

Similarly, Rs. 1 billion has been allocated for agriculture self-employment and Rs. 590 million for sports.

 

Sudurpaschim

Sudurpashchim Province government has presented a budget of Rs. 30.33 billion for the fiscal year 2021/22.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Prakash Bahadur Shah tabled the budget in the provincial assembly on Tuesday.

The province government has allocated Rs. 10.66 billion (35.1 per cent) for the recurrent expenditure, Rs. 17.65 billion (58.2 per cent) for capital expenditure, Rs. 1.72 billion (5.7 per cent) for inter-governmental finance transfer and Rs.300 million (1 per cent) for financing.

With the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affecting the economy, the province government has given top priority to health, development infrastructure, employment generation and agriculture.

In the coming fiscal year, necessary budget has been allocated for vaccination against COVID-19 and to manage necessary equipment to prevent and control COVID-19.

Similarly, health desks and holding centres will be made more effective at the main border points. The government has allocated Rs. 2.42 billion for upgrading hospitals and health services.

Rs. 10 million has been allocated for the construction of basic health buildings at the local level and Rs. 900 million for the management of pandemic and infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Necessary budget has been allocated to declare the Sudurpashchim Province as a fully literate province within the next year.

 

Common goals

In their Policy and Programmes for 2021/22 published last week, the provinces had said that the focus of the budget would be on control and treatment of COVID-19 pandemic and infrastructure development as well as business rehabilitation.

However, since they do not have reliable source of income, major source of their funding comes from the grant of the federal government and shares in the revenue collected by the local bodies.

The federal government has allocated Rs. 57.9 billion for all provinces for the next FY.

The provinces should present their budget for the next fiscal year by mid-June (by the end of Nepali month Jestha).

The federal government had announced the budget on 29 May while the local bodies will present their estimates of income and expenditure for the next year by 25 June.

 

Jointly prepared with Laxman Kafle, with inputs from Gokul Parajuli (Province 1), Dharbendra Jha (Province 2), Ram Mani Dahal (Bagmati), Tara Chapagain (Gandaki), Chhabilal Pande (Lumbini), Lalit Basel (Karnali) and Abinash Chaudhary (Sudurpaschim).

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 June 2021.