Kathmandu, November 17
The government has yet again fallen short of its capacity to spend the allocated amount. In the first four months of the current fiscal year, the government has had a capital expenditure of a mere 6.05 per cent of the annual capital budget, says the Office of the Comptroller General.
According to the office, the government, as of November 16 spent Rs 24.7 billion. The government’s capital expenditure target for fiscal year 2019/20 is Rs 408 billion.
Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada accepted that the government had not been able to increase the pace of its capital spending. This, according to Minister Khatiwada, is due to the low pace of development and economic activities in the country.
“Even though capital expenditure is low, other indicators of the economy are quite promising,” added Minister Khatiwada.
According to the data, the government, however, has already spent 20.57 per cent of recurrent expenditure. The Finance Ministry had set the recurrent expenditure at Rs 957 billion, out of which Rs 196 billion has already been used.
Office of the Comptroller General also states that around 14.73 per cent of the total budget, which was Rs 1,500 billion, has been consumed.