Kathmandu, Jan. 19: Although the government
is celebrating the current fiscal year 2017/18 as 'Budget Implementation Air',
the capital budget expenditure looks pathetic with just 14.80 per cent even
after of the completion of the first six months.
The country had spent Rs. 49.58 billion
capital budget by Thursday, January 18, according to the Financial Comptroller
General Office (FCGO).
The impact of the government's failure to
mobilise the development budget has seen on the banking industry which is
currently reeling under the liquidity crisis.
"It is heartening to see the poor
implementation of development budget even though the country has received the
budget 45 days before the beginning of the fiscal year. It is largely due to
the inability of the government and its ministries," said a source at the
Ministry of Finance.
It said that the poor expenditure was also
the result of poor distribution of the house reconstruction grant. Only 48,000
households have been found eligible for the third instalment, Rs. 100,000, of
the grant while the total number of beneficiaries is 767,705, and the National
Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is yet to provide the first instalment of the
grant to about 100,000 families.
Business organisations like the Federation
of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederations of
Nepalese Industries (CNI) have urged the government to be efficient while
utilising the capital budget so that more money could flow to the market.
However, the recurrent budget is spent
41.42 per cent. Then Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara had allocated Rs.
803 billion for recurrent expenditure, Rs. 335billion for capital expenditure
and Rs. 140 billion for financing provisions.
Altogether 31.48 per cent budget, Rs. 402.5
billion of the total budget Rs. 1278.99 billion, is spent by Thursday, said the
FCGO.
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