Bagmati Province Government Prepares Budget for Fiscal Year 2083/84

Hetauda. Bagmati Province Government has started the process of preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning of the province has determined a budget ceiling (limit) of approximately 49 billion rupees for the upcoming year and has corresponded with the ministries to select plans.

Although the directive for selecting budget plans stipulated that the budget ceiling should be received in the first week of Chaitra, the ceiling was distributed in the first week of Jestha due to various technical reasons. According to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Prabhat Tamang, the government sent the ceiling to all ministries on Monday. He stated that the first phase of the ceiling is less compared to last year.

Although the government has already decided to reduce the number of ministries from 14 to 8 starting from Shrawan, budget ceilings have been distributed to all 14 existing ministries. The budget plans are being merged according to the new structure when the budget implementation phase begins from Shrawan, and the budget limits have been sent to the existing ministries accordingly.

Ceilings have also been distributed to ministries that have been abolished or merged. The budget plans are also being merged and distributed for implementation starting from Shrawan. The provincial government had decided to reduce the number of ministries to 8 in a meeting held in Baishakh. According to the decision, the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Law and Cooperatives, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Drinking Water, Energy and Irrigation, Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Transport, Ministry of Health and Population, and Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Livestock Development will remain. Accordingly, the government plans to merge budget plans and move forward with implementation.

The government is also preparing to reorganize the provincial offices through O&M. Although the government has been preparing to merge various directorates and offices through O&M, a concrete decision has not yet been made. The provincial government is currently preparing to provide ceilings to all offices to bring budget plans and merge them later.

An employee of the Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that the budget has been allocated according to the old structure for the time being for administrative convenience, employee management, and continuity of ongoing plans.

Which Ministry Received How Much Ceiling?

According to the budget ceiling distributed by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development has received the largest share. According to an employee of the ministry, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure has been given a ceiling of 9.64 billion rupees due to large projects such as roads, bridges, and building construction. The second largest share, 4.45 billion rupees, has been received by the Ministry of Drinking Water, Energy and Irrigation. The Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation has been allocated the smallest budget ceiling of only 120 million rupees.

We Will Cut Vehicle Purchases and Unnecessary Programs – Minister Tamang

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Tamang, stated that the government is preparing to cut current expenditure in the upcoming fiscal year's budget. He said that reducing wasteful expenditure has been given top priority in the preliminary budget ceiling for the upcoming budget.

He stated that the government has set a target to significantly reduce the budget for current expenditure. Minister Tamang also said that homework is being done to reduce the current expenditure budget by about 30 percent. According to him, programs that could not be implemented in the past budget allocation ratios, programs that are not being implemented in the ministries, and less effective plans will be removed from the upcoming budget.

He stated that no budget will be allocated for the purchase of vehicles in the upcoming year. He also said that the government has adopted a policy of not providing additional budgets for projects that have already been allocated budgets and completed in the past for the construction of government buildings. He said that the budget is being made realistic by cutting unnecessary and ineffective programs.

He stated that the government, which presented a budget of 67 billion rupees in the current fiscal year, is preparing to reduce its size in the upcoming fiscal year. According to Minister Tamang, although the preliminary estimate of the budget is currently around 50 billion rupees, the budget may increase by a few billion after looking at the expenditure and resource situation by Jestha 24/25.

He stated that the government is preparing to include only those plans that can be implemented and provide results in the budget.