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Kathmandu, May 7
There has been a 21 per cent growth in the government revenue collection in the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal year.
According to the Finance Ministry, the government collected Rs 588 billion in revenues as of April 13. Even though that number is 21 per cent more than what the government had collected in the same period last year, it is still 12 per cent less than what Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has targeted during this year’s budget announcement.
Khatiwada had targeted to collect Rs 674 billion in the fiscal year 2018/19. As of now, the government is over Rs 800 million behind its set target.
The Inland Revenue Department collected 87 per cent of its set target. The Department, which had targeted to collect Rs 282 billion, collected Rs 247 billion as of April 13. The Department collected Rs 119 billion as income tax (81 per cent), Rs 58 billion as VAT (82 per cent) and Rs 50 billion as excise (97 per cent).
“Every year, our rate of revenue collection is increasing. We have raised it to 25 per cent. However, as the government increased the target to 36 per cent, we are behind,” said spokesperson of the Department, Durgadutta Bhandari.
Finance Minister Khatiwada has said that he has been regularly monitoring the collection report. But, experts say that this has made little to no difference in the collection process.
