FinMin fails to expedite capital expenditure

KATHMANDU, FEB 09:

The Finance Ministry has failed to invigorate other ministries to expedite capital expenditure due to political apathy. Alarmed by the severely low figures of capital expenditure, the ministry had started consultations with concerned ministries to find out the status of capital expenditure and possible ways to enhance it in an expected manner.

The government treasury has swollen to Rs 26.72 billion until mid-December due to sluggish trend in capital expenditure. The average progress of capital expenditure until mid-December was around 12 per cent.

The plan to encourage ministries to utilise the earmarked budget in a transparent manner has remained on paper due to finance minister Barshaman Pun’s negligence towards national problems, a source at the ministry said. “The minister has been solely focused on his party convention leaving national problems aside.”

The ministry has not taken any crucial decision these days due to the minister’s busy schedule, said finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi. The status of capital expenditure apparently shows that all concerned ministries should be serious regarding slowdown in development activities, he said.

Source: THT