FY 2075/76 is on 9th month while the government capital expenditure stands at 32% only; What level of quality we can expect from 11th hour rush work?

Thu, Apr 4, 2019 4:34 PM on Economy, Latest,

The government of Nepal has presented a budget of Rs 314 billion for capital expenditure at the beginning of FY 2075/76. However, it's already about to pass nine months and the expenditure stands at Rs 101.23 billion only, which is just 32.24% of the estimated value.

The capital expenditure trend of Government can be seen below:

S.N Month Amt of Current Year(in Rs billions)
FY 2074/75 FY 2075/76
  Budget Estimated 335.17 % 314.00 %
1 Shrawan 0.115 0.03% 0.57 0.18%
2 Bhadra 1.55 0.46% 4.14 1.32%
3 Ashwin 11.64 3.47% 18.78 5.98%
4 Kartik 17.86 5.33% 26.01 8.28%
5 Mangsir 24.79 7.40% 34.04 10.84%
6 Poush 42.72 12.75% 55.52 17.68%
7 Magh 60.08 17.93% 70.66 22.50%
8 Falgun 86.44 25.79% 89.00 28.34%
9 Chaitra 108.96 32.51% 101.23 32.24%
10 Baisakh 128.48 38.33%    
11 Jestha 151.88 45.31%    
12 Asadh 239.91 71.58%    
  *FY 2075/76 Chaitra is value is till 20th

As we can see from the table above, the spending trend of government of Nepal was slow last year too which makes this a regular behavior rather than the effect of some exogenous variable.

Thus inefficiency in government spending has some contribution on the liquidity shortage that the banking system has been facing for the entire year. This shortage, as visible to everyone, resulted into higher interest rates. Now that only a quarter is remaining, the government might speed up its capital expenditure, but such eleventh hour rush might have an impact on the quality of works and hence its sustainability.