Only 35% of development expenditure in 10 months, govt likely to miss even revised revenue target

KATHMANDU: With less than two months left for the fiscal year to come to an end, the development budget expenditure of the government has been much low.

The government had reduced the budget expenditure estimate from Rs 1.47 trillion to Rs 1.348 trillion through the mid-year review of the current fiscal year.

According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government has been able to spend Rs 824.53 billion till mid-May. The spending figure is 55.91 percent of the annual allocated budget and 61.13 percent of the revised target.

As of mid-May, the government’s current expenditure stands at Rs 630 billion which is 66.39 percent of the annual target while capital expenditure stands at Rs 125.77 billion or 35 percent of the allocated budget.

Meanwhile, government’s revenue collection has also been affected by the pandemic. From the mid-term review, the government had estimated that the revenue collection for the current fiscal year will increase by 14 percent, compared to the annual target of 94.85 percent or 959.68 billion.

However, the government’s revenue collection in the last 10 months has been 75.3 percent of the annual target and 84.13 percent of the revised estimates. The government has been able to collect Rs 709.61 billion tax revenue or 77.73 percent of the target and Rs 51.31 billion non-tax revenue or 52 percent of the annual target.

Out of the target of total revenue collection for the current fiscal year, the share of tax revenue is 90 percent and the share of non-tax revenue is 10 percent.