Govt faces budget deficit of Rs 69 billion in five months of current FY

KATHMANDU: The government is facing a budget deficit while implementing the annual budget in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY 2023-24 ).

According to the Office of Auditor General, the government’s expenditure till December 16 of the current fiscal has surpassed its income. In the first five months of the current fiscal year, the government’s income makes up 26.07 percent of the annual target while expenditure is 25.87 percent.

The government had announced a total budget of Rs 1751.31 billion for the current fiscal year and the expenditures till mid-December amounted to around Rs 453 billion.

According to the Office of the Auditor General, of the total spending, the current expenditure makes up 31.53 percent followed by 18.52 percent towards fiscal management and 11.94 percent towards capital expenditure.

The government has allocated Rs 1141.78 billion under the heading of recurrent expenditure and has already spent Rs 359.99 billion in the last five months. Of the total budget of Rs 302.07 billion allocated towards capital expenditure, the government has so far spent only Rs 36.06 billion.

Likewise, of the total allocation of Rs 300.07 billion towards fiscal management, the government’s expenditure so stands at Rs 56.94 billion.

The government’s revenue collection is not satisfactory in the first five months of the current fiscal year. The government has set a target to collect revenue totaling Rs 1472.48 billion in the current fiscal year. However, it has collected revenue of Rs 383.92 billion so far which is 26.07 percent of the annual target.

An analysis of the government’s income and expenditure in the review period shows that the government faces a budget deficit of Rs 69.71 billion.

The government has set a target to collect revenue of Rs 1305.47 billion towards tax revenue and Rs 117.62 billion towards non-tax revenue in the current fiscal year. Similarly, the government aims to raise foreign grants equivalent to Rs 49.94 billion.

The tax revenue collection in the first five months of the current fiscal year is Rs 337.18 billion or 25.83 percent of the annual target while the non-tax revenue collection is equivalent to Rs 26.24 billion or 22.42 percent of the annual target.

The government has taken foreign loans equivalent to Rs 2.75 billion until December 16 of the current fiscal year. RSS