Tradition of Hasty Spending and Budget Expenditure Uninterrupted This Fiscal Year
A Cheque of 1.25 Kharba Cut in Just 21 Days
According to data from the Comptroller General's Office, the government's budget expenditure reached Rs. 11 Kharba 76 Arba rupees by the end of Jestha last year. However, by the third week of Ashad, expenses had already exceeded Rs. 13 Kharba, equivalent to Rs. 1 Kharba 25 Arba 7 crores in Ashad alone.
Despite a budget allocation of Rs. 17 Kharba 83 Arba 73 crores 63 lakhs for the current financial year, with only one week remaining until the end of the fiscal year, the actual expenditure being only Rs. 13 Kharba poses a significant problem. Furthermore, the undesirable practice of delayed development spending and hurriedly disbursing large sums of money towards the end of the financial year continues this year as well.
The Auditor General's report has consistently highlighted that delayed payments compromise the quality of development projects and demonstrate a severe violation of financial discipline. The report has repeatedly recommended that the government put an end to the trend of allocating a substantial portion of the annual budget in Ashad.
According to the daily budgetary comparative analysis published by the Comptroller General's Office, capital expenditure is increasing by one percentage point each day. As of last Sunday, Ashad 17, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) accounted for 44.34 percent of the annual target. By Thursday, it had risen to 47.44 percent. In just three weeks since Ashad began, capital expenditure, which stood at 40 percent by the end of Jestha, increased by approximately seven percentage points.
Capital expenditure is the money spent by the government on the development of physical assets. In Nepal, the capital budget is met by balancing domestic revenue after meeting the recurrent budget, grants, and loans.
The government is always seen accelerating the costs under capital expenditure at the last minute, and looks like the end of this fiscal year will be no exception to the norm. The modest rate of capital expenditure throughout the review period demonstrates that the government's inability to spend this year. The same is expected to negatively affect employment possibilities, the liquidity of the banking system, and the quality of development projects already in turmoil.
In recent days, the accounting and payment electronic system has faced excessive pressure, causing disruptions in the entire system. The system has reached a point where it cannot handle the load due to the simultaneous high volume of payment requests.
Shambhu Prasad Marasini, spokesperson for the Comptroller General's Office, was quoted as saying that the system's performance issues were a result of high payment pressure and some technical difficulties. He was quoted as mentioning, "It has been observed that the server slows down under high pressure, but there is no information about any payment being blocked. Additionally, the current high payment pressure coincides with the rainy season, which has also led to reports of internet access problems."
Marasini was also quoted as noting that payments in Ashad exceed those in Jestha, and with the payment system scheduled to be closed after Ashad 24th, arrangements have been made to process payments on the upcoming Saturday as well.
Addressing the situation, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) announced that Fund Settlement transactions through cheque clearing and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) can be conducted even on specified public holidays, including Ashad 23 and 30.
