Nepal's Capital Expenditure Remains Sluggish in First Nine Months of Fiscal Year

Kathmandu. The government's capital expenditure has remained low during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. According to data from the Financial Comptroller General Office, the state of capital spending as of the end of Chaitra is disappointing.

According to the data, a budget of 407.888 billion rupees was allocated under the capital heading. Of this, only 96.1951 billion rupees has been spent as of Chaitra 30. This is only 23.58 percent of the total target.

During the same period in the previous fiscal year 2081/82, 32.24 percent of capital expenditure had been achieved. The 23.58 percent expenditure in the nine months of this year indicates that the rate of development spending has declined further compared to last year.

While development spending is slow, administrative and regular recurrent expenditure remains high. By the end of Chaitra, 747.5244 billion rupees (63.3 percent) has been spent under the recurrent expenditure heading.

Regarding revenue collection, the government has achieved nearly 60 percent of its annual target. Against the target of collecting 1.48 trillion rupees in total revenue, 886.2836 billion rupees (59.88 percent) has been collected so far. The data indicates that 798.77 billion rupees of this was collected from tax revenue.

Looking at the overall budget expenditure, the government has spent 1.0599572 trillion rupees (53.97 percent) so far. Under financial management, 57.63 percent of the target has been spent.