Gandaki Province Presents Budget of NPR 32.99 Billion for Fiscal Year 2083/84

Pokhara. Gandaki Province Government has presented the budget for the fiscal year 2083/84 in the parliament.

Minister of Economic Affairs Jit Bahadur Sherchan presented the sectoral budget. A budget of 32.99 billion has been presented for the upcoming year. This budget is 1 billion or 3 percent more than the current year. Initially, Gandaki had prepared to bring a budget of 29 billion, but it has increased the budget size after the surplus of the current year is expected to increase.

Some amount is also estimated to increase from the grants from the federal government and internal income, said Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Krishnachandra Devkota. The budget, which has been declining continuously in recent years, has been increased for the upcoming year after stopping its decline.

Among the presented budget, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development has received the largest amount of 11.96 billion rupees. This amount is 36.27 percent of the total budget. The ministry receiving the next largest budget is Energy, Water Resources and Water Supply. It has received a budget of 4.77 billion, which is 14.47 percent. The Ministry of Health has received 10 percent, which is 3.31 billion rupees, while the Ministry of Social Development, Youth and Sports has received a budget of 2.16 billion 80 million rupees. The Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives received 6 percent of the budget. 2 billion rupees have been allocated for the Ministry of Agriculture.

889 million rupees have been set aside for the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers' Office, and 227.8 million rupees for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Ministry of Industry and Tourism has received 924.9 million rupees, and the Ministry of Forest and Environment has received a budget of 1.21 billion rupees. Comparing the budget, the provincial government has given more priority to physical infrastructure development and energy sectors, while the budget for social development has been contracted.

The provincial government has significantly focused its resources on physical infrastructure and energy sectors, which are considered the main pillars of development construction. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, which received a budget of 9.72 billion 47 million rupees in FY 2081/82, had decreased to a revised 9.11 billion 26 million rupees in FY 2082/83. However, it has been increased by approximately 31 percent to 11.96 billion 97 million in the current fiscal year 2083/84.

The budget for physical infrastructure has been increased due to the increase in the liability of projects that are under multi-year contracts and are in implementation. A similar trend is seen in the energy sector. The budget, which was 3.86 billion 78 million rupees in FY 2081/82, was limited to 3.23 billion 26 million rupees in the second year. This year, it has been increased by 47 percent to 4.77 billion 52 million rupees.

There have been fluctuations in the social sector and tourism budget. In FY 2081/82, 3.94 billion 43 million rupees were allocated to the Ministry of Social Development, Youth and Sports. The budget size appeared larger that year because the Ministry of Health was also under the same ministry. The social and health ministries have been split in the current year. Due to this, the budget for social development decreased to 1.84 billion, while it has increased to 2.16 billion in the upcoming year. Even now, when the budgets of social and health are combined, they reach the previous state.

There has been an increase and decrease in the budget for the Ministry of Tourism as well. While the budget was 1.30 billion 55 million rupees in FY 2081/82, it was reduced to 617.1 million rupees in FY 2082/83. A budget of 924.9 million rupees has been allocated for the upcoming year. The former Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment has also been split into two. These ministries have been preparing their own budgets since last year. The budget for the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers' Office, which was 510.6 million rupees in FY 2081/82, has been increasing successively to 662.9 million in the second year and 889 million rupees in the upcoming year.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs, which received a budget of 90.5 million rupees in the first year, is implementing 173.8 million rupees in the current year, while it has received a budget of 227.8 million rupees for the upcoming year. The budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives is continuously increasing. The budget, which was 1.41 billion 28 million rupees in FY 2081/82, has increased to 2.05 billion 85 million rupees for the upcoming year.

The budget for the health sector, since it became a separate budget, was 2.88 billion 20 million rupees in the current year, and it has been increased by approximately 15 percent to 3.31 billion 24 million rupees for the upcoming year. The budget for the Ministry of Forest, which was 810 million rupees in the current year, has reached 1.21 billion 79 million rupees for the upcoming year. Looking at the budget trend of Gandaki Province over three years, the budget graph of almost all ministries shows an increase. The government's focus is mainly on infrastructure and energy and water supply sectors.