Full budget must if polls are to be held this fiscal

KATHMANDU, FEB 24 -

If the Constituent Assembly election is to be held within the current fiscal year, a full budget presentation is a must to make necessary budget adjustments, the Finance Ministry has said.

Otherwise, the government will have to slash development budget in order to address the possible increase in poll expenses, according to the ministry.

The government has allocated Rs 12 billion for the planned election for this fiscal year. “If current trend of expenditure continues, it will exceed expenditure limit set for this year,” said Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi at a press meet on Friday. “Even if the election is not held, a full budget may be needed to address this shortfall. And if the election is held, a full budget will definitely be required to address the possible rise in the demand for resources for the polls.”

Despite slow expenditure in the first seven months of the fiscal year, the ministry expects an expenditure of Rs 370 billion by the year-end, exceeding the limit by Rs 19 billion. As per the budget ary arrangement, the government is authorised to spend just Rs 351 billion.

With political parties holding negotiations for a fresh Constituent Assembly election within June, Subedi said the Finance Ministry has been holding talks with the Home Ministry to estimate the budget required for ensuring security during the polls.

Although sluggish in the first half, the capital expenditure has started to pick up, the Finance Ministry said. The expenditure increased by Rs 2.44 billion in the seventh month to Rs 9.48 billion, according to the ministry. Until the sixth month, the figure was at Rs 7.04 billion.

“Key development ministries’ failure to authorise their subordinate agencies to spend the budget and their failure to get the programmes and projects endorsed by relevant agencies also contributed to low budget spending,” said Subedi, adding, however, that the situation would be streamlined within April.

Subedi said despite good expenditure figures in foreign-aided projects, the failure to get reimbursement from donors was reflected in the poor expenditure pattern of foreign aid. “We are yet to transfer the expenditure made from the national resources head to the donors’ head, which showed slow expenditure from the donors’ side,” he said.

After projects determine the expenditure supposed to be spent under donor financing, the amount is put under the donors’ head.

The mid-term review of the budget prepared by the Finance Ministry says expenditure in foreign-aided projects has come down by 80.58 percent compared to the figure during the same period last year.

Only Rs 1.79 billion was spent in the review period compared to Rs 8.99 billion in the same period a year ago.

Compared to the budget allocation in foreign-aided projects, the expenditure is just 1.72 percent.

Capital budget slashed for elections

The capital budget has been slashed to arrange necessary resources for the planned Constituent Assembly election, expansion of Kathmandu roads and load-shedding reduction plan, among others. The Finance Ministry said it has allocated Rs 18 billion for these purposes in a single basket. “The budget allocated to different ministries has been slashed by a certain flat percentage,” said Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi. “While cutting down the budget allocated to different ministries, the budget allocated for both administrative and development purposes have also been slashed.”

Source: The Kathmandu  Post